Removal of fuel pump and distributor

Two nuts hold the petrol pump. This is easily removed but there is a warning in the Guide I am using not to try and remove the bakelite stand or operating rod as they are fragile and may break. They suggest leaving them in until the engine is split.
There is one nut holding the distributor, in fact it holds the clamp to the block. We undid this and the clamp bolt but the distributor would not even turn let alone come out. Some sharp knocks with a piece of wood and hammer gradually prised the body upwards and out.

Cleaning engine

The engine was taken to a car wash/engine clean facility in Gravesend. Not sure if this is really for engines in-situ but quite effective. The engine was liberally painted with Gunk engine cleaner and left to stand whilst we had coffee. Anyway it worked quite well getting rid of most of the crud that had accumulated over many years.
We had also taken this opportunity to drain the engine oil and dispose of same at the local council dump.

21st June 2013
The Heat Exchanger had been removed with the bottom plate attached so the plate was removed. It is held to the H/E by two cheesehead screws which appeared impossible to remove with a screwdriver. A good grip with a pair of Mole grips undid them easily. These two screws had their ends cut (vee'd) which is presumably to 'lock' them (anti-vibration?)

Heat Exchanger

The Heat Exchanger was cleaned up with Gunk but in one place has seriously rusted leaving a hole. Plenty of time to think what to do about this. New ones are quite expensive and, I suspect, nowhere near the quality of these originals.

Removing Heat Exchanger

19th June 2013
We had a big problem with one of the nuts holding the J-Tube. The lower nut & stud nestles between the J-Tube and the heat exchanger so not much room to swing a spanner. Added to that the nut was very corroded and although the size should be 13mm it was smaller and more like 1/2".
Various suggestions from Volkszone and we contemplated buying a set of cheap spanners from Halfords which included a 1/2" (AF?).
We thought if the ring spanner is not a good fit then it would be a waste of £13 or so.
In the end we opted for a nut splitter.
The nut splitter was a bit fiddly and could only fit on to about 2/3rds of the nut which it duly split.
The remainder was butchered off with a sharp chisel. Not ideal but it worked.
There were two cheesehead screws under the crankcase holding a piece of tinware to the heat exchanger and two more at the back of the engine holding the same plate.
Two of the bolts are plain and the other two have their ends v-eed.
Didn't notice which were which but the v-eed ones presumably hold two plates together while the plain ones bolt into the casing (?)

Inlet Manifold

15th June 2013
The carburettor had already been removed and the manifold came off easily. There are two bolts on each tube to be undone and the manifold just lifts off.

13th June 2013 Removed exhaust pipe/silencer

After much hammering at the exhaust pipe with no effect we realised the manifold had to be unbolted! The nuts came off relative easily although one stud had been sheared off previously. The clamps holding the silencer to the manifold were losened and with a bit of tugging and wiggling it came off relatively easily.

Engine on Sealey stand

The mounting plate from the engine stand was bolted to the engine. The main bolts holding the arms of the mounting plate were left loose and the mounting tubes lined up with the engine case holes and the bolts screwed in loosely. The mounting tubes were lined up to fit outside the flange on the engine casing. When everything was in alignement all the bolts were tightened up.
 The top two holes in the engine are not threaded so any length M10 bolts will do. The lower two bolts, however, are threaded. The first bolts used were 100mm M10 but when bolting into the engine we must have passed the threading in the case, which chewed the ends of the bolt thread and were difficult to extract. It was tight all the way out and we were worried that the engine threads would be damaged.
Bought more bolts from Namrick www.namrick.co.uk and found the 90mm M10 were just the right length.

Picture 6: Stand fixing plate.

Picture 7: Mounting 'tubes' & flange

Picture 8: Is it safe?

Hmm. Is it safe. Hope so!

Getting engine onto stand.

Picture 5. Flexplate removed.

The next task is to get the engine onto a stand to make disassembly easier. A Seeley stand had been purchased. The four 'arms' need to be attached to the engine-to-bell housing holes (see Pic.5).
Two are threaded and two are plain. Four 10mm bolts have been purchased which will hopefully do the trick.

Removal of Flexplate

The Beetle automatic has no flywheel but, instead, a Flexplate, that connects the engine to the torque converter. The flexplate is connected to the engine (crankshaft) with a gland nut tightened to 282 lbs/ft.
The flexplate is attached to the torque converter with four bolts that are accessed one at a time by rotating the engine until they are visible through an access hole.
The four bolts are, I think, undone with a 10mm socket and the gland nut with a 26mm socket. (to be checked).

Picture 1. Bolt, flexplate to torque converter.

Picture 2. Flexplate on engine with gland nut removed.

Picture 3. Flexplate showing captive nuts for bolts to Torque Converter

Picture 4. Flexplate with 8mm bolts to remove from engine.

Removing the flexplate gland nut appeared to be a difficult job. There were several methods suggested but warnings to take care over the flexiplate as damage would render it useless and difficult to replace. In the end a cheap 1/2" Air 'rattler' gun and a pair of feet stopping the pulley end from turning did the trick. The gland nut came off very easily. To remove the plate two 8mm bolts are screwed into the two threaded holes and gradually tightened to force the plate outwards and off.

Type 1 Beetle engine strip

Let the fun begin! The boys are about to embark on a mission of which they have no prior knowledge. Or, presumably, of which they have no fear.
No doubt that will quickly change, as anyone with experience of old engines (and rust) will know. Although, I am a Beetle:
Vorsprung durch Technik
Hopefully the boys will be able to complete the task and I will have my innards replaced, once more to hit the road.
No doubt notes will be taken and progress photographed in minute detail.
Ok, so I will bow out now and let the story tell itself. 

Painless extraction!

There I was, minding my own business in my new(ish) house, ok so there's a bit of a leak in the roof but I am thick-skinned, when the boys suddenly turned up. As well as the boys, I spied a new guy I haven't seen before. The boys kept addressing him as Phil so I assumed they new him. Anyway, gound sheet is spread out under my arsk no questions get no lies toolboxes are got to the ready and Phil starts fiddling with my derriere. Of course I have utter trust in the boys (why? you ask), they haven't done any serious harm to me yet and, of course, they think I am a valuable asset. As I say a bit of fiddling and bolts being shown around and marvelled at their as new condition, then a big beast of a Jack appears; no not another new guy, a (an?) hydraulic jack was thrust under my nether regions and... more pulling, shoving and general strenuous activity. And then the deed was done...an extraction! No, not a tooth, you silly humans, my engine! I had a quick peep behind and there it was, in all its glory, sitting on my house floor, looking like some sort of wierd contraption. Is that what pushes me along from behind? Let's hope the boys can get that thing sorted out and put back in where it belongs. I heard Phil say he would be pleased to get it returned to its proper place and the boys jokingly retorted that they would see him in a couple of years time then!!! Sounds about right!

Christ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!mas

Sorry about the title, but if you were me you would feel the same.
D'you know what? I been shut up in my 'new home', all on my own with no visitors since, hm, I don't know..September?? Ray popped down to fix the lock on my front door. He had a quick look over me and a sort of look that said 'what are we going to do with the old boy?'
Can't blame him for lack of activity, not much you can do in an English winter. But then, to top it all, the boys did not even come over at CHristmas. Would you believe it?? I would have thought a quick visit, a turkey sandwich and a mince pie. Maybe a cracker.
Mind you writing this should stir them into action, I expect they will be down New Years Eve. And then I can look forward to their New Year Resolutuons!!

Progress so far

Hmm......no comment!
I'll be like this 'til 2020 at this rate!

You might like to look at the Brazilian beauty in the last post, though. Shame she's not topless, or automatic!

Brazilian Beauty

I think I'm in love!! Just got some pics. of a dark, Brazilian beauty. Might pin them up in my new house. Reminds me of Ray's old Brazilian house keeper. She used to hoover his carpet really well. But always used to leave a thin strip untouched right down the middle (?)
Not as bad as the Eastern European one, though. Again an excellent job but she took absolutely ages hoovering the carpet. Why? I dunno. She was a Slo-vak!
Any way the Brazilian beauty is, of course, a Beetle. Like me. Bit more shiny I'll admit but I bet she's (she? Is that wishful thinking? We could have babies! Baby Beetles!) a lot younger than me. Can't tell by the registration: HAW, what's that then?
'Spect you have a clutch pedal as well! Very low tech!
Can't fault THE BODY though. WOWeeeeeeeeeeee! Get's the old ATF Fluids going, I can tell you!
Anyway here are the pictures:

Pictures of Lily (Brian being frivolous)

Brian's new house and derriere.

My own little house

Hi humans, sorry I haven't been posting lately but, to be honest, I have been a bit near-suicidal since my last post. Why? Why?!! What would you feel like sitting on a lawn with your back facing the world? Most of the time wet grass. And weeds!
Anyway everything has now changed-and for the better! Yes, I have my own new little home- ok so it isn't mine it's rented, but a lot of cars, and,er, people, rent these days, so I hear.
How has this come about? Well the other day Dave and Ray approached with some menacing looking electrical leads with huge serrated grippers at each end. These were connected to the battery terminals of Dave's Polo and....woah, hold on! Where are you sticking those? The leads were poked into my body and attached somewhere inside me. You've seen those hospital programs, no doubt, where the doctors are holding two large pads and, sticking them resolutely on the patients chest, shout the order  "STAND CLEAR!". The patient's body either jerks into life, or doesn't. Fortunately this patient did. The fibralator worked, my engine fired into life. Ok, so a bit noisily, but alive. Remember my big end (no that's not a euphemism) is shot. Anyway Ray drove me off the lawn, or rather drove off the brown patch. A tow rope was attached to my front end and then to Dave's Polo and off we went.
Well, we drove for what seemed ages. Ray got a bit nervous when a police car followed me for about half a mile and, I must confess, I got a bit hot and bothered and my rear drums started playing up a bit. Ray got very worried for the last few miles that I wouldn't stop when asked and bump into the back of the Polo.
Now, about my little home. It is just the right size for me, about a foot either side and a couple of feet each end for me to stretch a bit. Nice and dry. And with a bright blue front door.
Ray & Dave put my rear end up on some ramps and took off my engine lid so I feel there is much in store for me in the coming months.
I promise to keep you all posted.

Don't let the grass grow under your wheels and How many Beetles make five?

Wakey wakey humans!! How are you all? To those in UK-feeling a bit more chirpy now? After last night's football match. Lucky its not like tennis, eh? 69 games each?? What's that all about? Get ready to play the Germans. Yes, of course I will be supporting Germany: I am German.

Anyway, the grass is growing under my wheels. I am parked up on Ray's front lawn. Last night he mowed around me, much to the amusemant of his wife, Pat. You know, Pat, the one that says "I don't know why you don't get rid of him, you have spent a fortune on him already". The 'him' being me! How could she? I taught her how to drive!!

How many Beetles make five? What is that answer? A Beetle, a Beetle, half a Beetle, a Beetle and a Beetle. Is that right? Ray has never understood that one.

No, seriously, how many Beetle Automatics were made and how many are still running? There is a popular forum called vwar.org that is quite active so there are a few scattered over the globe.

But not many comment here. Ok, if you are shy I won't mind if you get your human owners to comment for you. But it would be good to hear from you and would really make me feel happy inspite of the grass.

New livery??

Hello everybuddies. How are you enjoying British weather? The Coalition? Whatever. Don't know if you remember but my engine went wrong some time ago due to Dave forgetting to put oil in. Anyway, Dave moved houses a while back and so I had to be moved from his old house to his new....no that's not right. I had to go back to Ray's house. The boys bought a tow rope from Chastillians in Crayford. You should have seen it! It was bright yellow (sort of nylon strands, I suppose) and at each end were these MASSIVE cast hooks (spring loaded no less). It looked like thay could hold a ton or two. Or is that tonne? So on the appointed day the rope was attached to the rear end of the Polo (Dave's got that now and Ray has purchased a nearly new Mazda 626 TS2, very swanky, cruise control and all that! How does he get the time to cruise?) and the other end to my front bumper. What happened to bumpers? In what year did bumpers disappear? I wonder what happened to all the bumper manufacturers?
So off we went. About 200 yards up the road and...big problem. The rope had broken.On closer inspection the rope had just become unattached to the bloody great hook! The boys tied it in a big knot and we set off again. Nearly home and about 500 yards to go the unbreakable rope actually broke. I give up on the Chinese!
Oh, just remembered why I called this post 'New Livery! The boy's latest idea is to, when they get around to renovating me again, is to respray me in my original Ivory white livery and the put a massive great SHAREWORLD logo completely over my bonnet and roof. That would be brilliant, wouldn't it? You know, SHAREWORLD: http://www.shareworld.co.uk/ it is doing really well.

My election prediction

Tories romp home with decent working majority.
Remember you read it here first. Straight from the Beetle's mouth!