82 VW Bug for conversion??
 

My neighbor is moving to Colorado and he doesn't want to tow his VW. It is pretty thrashed, but it had some goodies that caught my eye. It has a new, in the box, alternator. It has a spare fiberglass hood and whatever the part underneath the hood connected to the fenders is called (apron??). It has a lot of chrome stuff on the engine. It has a gasoline heater. I really hate those huge dune buggy rims and tires on the back though. He wants $500 for it, but I don't think I can get that much for all the parts. Oh, and supposedly the transaxle has just been overhauled. What does everyone think?

I didn't think there were '82 Bugs in the U.S. :confused:

Picked this up last week.
$700 + $100 for a Painless wiring harness.

regards
Mech

Now THAT is beautiful!

Neighbor said it was an 82, looks like they stopped making them before then, but I know zilch about VW. I've only owned ONE; it was a 63 that I paid $60 for. I cleaned out the fuel line and drove it until my wife blew the engine. I can't blame her though, because I never ONCE checked the oil the whole time I owned it, and I hear that kind of thing matters, especially on air-cooled engines.:p

The Fiberfab kit was something like $3500 in 1982. This one is on a 73 bug chassis with a dual port 1600 cc engine. The title says 63k original miles. It has never been on the road or finished. The gent I bought it from got it from his dad when he passed. He was moving to California and did not want to ship it there.

It cant weigh much, easiest car to push I have ever seen on dirt and gravel parking lot.

The front parking lamps are brand new in the box. I need to finish installing the shifter, parking brake, and wiring harness. Looks like about 40 hours total work. Even came with new brake lines, engine mounts, and all the gauges necessary to complete the job. Only thing missing is the shift rod and some of the shifter linkage, even got two new e-brake cables.

Brand new, never installed, muffler assembly and gaskets.


regards
Mech

Should be a nice conversion; bugs are pretty popular conversion candidates. Don't forget a build log!

Just checked with the neighbor, and he got out the registration: it's a '72.....

That explains it. :-)

Oh snapping turtle! Mine's a 1971! It was super easy to work on. If it were up to me, I would suggest that you do it. Everything on it is so darn mechanical. It all makes sense. Those Germans done good with it.

Well, I think you're the first person to actually tell me to get it. I had someone from high school tell me not to get it, because she owned three and said they are money pits. I didn't have the guts to ask why she would get 3 if they were such money pits? She then said that before you know it, you have to replace an alternator, a clutch, etc. I don't think so! Those are the first things I take OUT! Since you have the actual experience of buying one, and converting it, I would think your advice would have the most bearing. Or maybe your advice needs bearings? I need to find some bearing grease.
So how IS your bug doing anyway? Do you still drive it?

The bug is good. I drive it, but it is occasionally out of commission waiting around for the next controller. Right now it's between controllers, until a couple weeks, when it will be good again. I don't drive it to work, since my work is on the freeway, and I only have 6 batteries in it right now. The transmission works perfectly. The engine is the flaky thing. Frequent valve adjustments and whatever, but that's all gone. I've had no problems with the car at all since I converted it almost 2 years ago.

Oh, you wanted permission? Then heck yeah get it! Parts are very cheap and easily upgradeable (disc brakes, etc.) Electrical system is dead sexy simple. Room for batteries. Very easy to work on. In fact, the main drawbacks (other than that it will crush you in a collision) have to do with the engine, which you're going to pull out.

I would prefer the Karmann Ghia just because of its better aerodynamics, but they're very hard to find and more expensive (and some parts are also hard to find.) The bug is a great choice for a low-cost no-frills conversion.

Thanks Clev! I am unable to make decisions on my own. No, well actually I am. Wait, let me ask my wife, she can tell me if I can make decisions....:D
Seriously, this is the kind of stuff I need to hear, because I know that parts WERE available, and WERE cheap back in the late 80's; I have no idea what it's like for bugs today. It will need a back seat and seat belts for sure.

Before you buy it, check the heater channels (aka: outer sills). Their known to be a common rust area, and its the only part that holds the outside of the floor to the body. If their good, then get it. If their rusted through, its a lot of work/time/money..

True, forgot about that, although I doubt they have to salt the roads very often in Oklahoma.

So I pulled my trailer (that I paid $75 for iirc) out of the weeds to put the transmission out of the Corolla into to take to the car wash to get all the oil off of when my neighbor came over. He says "you want to sell it?". "Well, not really, I kinda use it a lot". I thought about it for a minute, then I told him "I'll trade you for your Bug!!!!". A little back and forth and we settled on my trailer plus $150 cash for his Bug. So I am the owner of a 1972 VW Bug, or Beetle, or whatever you call those things. Looks like I have about $225 invested. Now I have to find a trailer....:p

heck ya!!!!! There are only like 4 bolts holding the engine in. you can drop it right down, and slide it under the car if you jack the car up. You can be driving by Monday!

I'd be happy to be driving it by Tuesday!:p
I just got home and my neighbor delivered it for me! I just pulled out a couple boxes inside it and they contained: a new generator, a new distributor with cap and rotor, another new cap and rotor, new plug wires, new coil, new master cylinder, new fuel pump, 3 bags of mouldings, new chrome headlight rings, a bunch of little boxes of new parts that I have no idea what they are, etc!!! I'm a happy camper:D

Another thing I found in the car is a book called "How to Keep Your Volkswagon Alive: a manual of step by step procedures for the compleat idiot".....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc1dYuYmCZc

That's the book that I bought!!!!! It's perfect and very helpful! Man, that engine is going to be easy to remove. hahaha. Heck ya!

LOL. I have two copies that book, despite the fact I've never owned a Volkswagen and have never ridden in an air-cooled. (I also have the same manual for the early CVCC Hondas, since I owned an '80 Accord at the time.) They're a fun read, even without the car in the driveway.

Awesome! $225... Heck, a used 7-piece fiberglass kit goes for that price. Plus, it sounds like to got a bunch of new parts.

Good score. :thumbup:

Tomorrow I'm going to look at another Bug that someone told me about when he saw mine in the driveway. I think I might be the new VW Central....

Ok, now I have a 74 Super Beetle too....

So here is the car my girls have named Tangerine. I traded a fuel pump and a master cylinder I had in a box that came with my other bug for it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpSds2hmq5Y

It's perfect!!! The body isn't bad at all. The super beetle can carry more weight than the regular beetle I think. My family used to go on vacations with 5 kids and 2 adults in one of those. It was even orange! We would all just be in a big pile in the back seat, sitting on top of the clothes. And we would dig under the front seats while my parents weren't paying attention, and throw dirty diapers out the window on the freeway. Your car sure brings back some fun memories. :)

OMG! The day I have spent today! I was in Bug heaven. I really didn't know what I was going to do with "Tangerine". It needed so much work, most of the glass was bad, and the kicker was that most parts wouldn't interchange with the dune buggy. Since I basically got it for free, I was just going to rip parts off of it and send it to the junkyard. As it turns out, I went to the guy's house that traded it to me and visited his two other Bugs that he told me I could take whatever parts I wanted off of. I ended up with a rear window, a driver's side window, two backseats, two front seat, headlights and trim rings, turn signals, door panels, and a spare tire. Tomorrow I'm getting fiberglass front and rear fenders as well as a hood. I have enough spare parts to make both complete I think. I sure wish this all happened at the BEGINNING of summer. School (work) starts in 5 days and college starts on the 23rd-there's no way I can work on them then. So the plan is now: June Bug electric and Tangerine back to stock. Then I will sell Tangerine to fund the building of EV4 (I'm thinking pickup)....

This must be the karmic payback for the stolen batteries. Can't wait to see the build.

I think you're right- I thought that I got my payback when I found the dude that will sell me as many batteries as I need for $2, but if the universe has other plans I'm not going to complain. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the back glass has rear window defrost- I don't know why but I just get a kick out of that.....:D

LOL, that might be the only heat you get in that car.

Today I scored a free windshield and turn signal assembly with ignition switch and key. Thank you universe....:)

Ya, there was that one atom that rammed into that other atom, when he was going to ram into a different one. I'm really glad he hit the other guy-atom though, since then that guy would sell you his windshield. hahahaha. Why do you keep getting free stuff?! I would just like to voice my concern to the universe about the complete lack of fairness about that. Universe... I'm real real mad right now. Cut it out! Cut.... It.... Out! Share! Wait. My beetle worked out to $40 after selling the motor. I guess the Uni hooked this brother up too. Can I call you Uni? YES. Did you hear that?! Uni Talked to me! This post makes no sense whatsoever. I should just hit delete. Do you ever just type things that make no sense?

Dollar bill, dollar bill, dollar bill. (See? No sense.)

I'll tell you what makes no sense: the guy who hooked me up with his father who owned Tangerine is the one who came to my house today and announced "Don't buy an ignition switch or a windshield, I got them for you!". He took me to his neighbor's house who runs a wrecking yard and he just brought home a Beetle to get parts off. He told him to have me come over and take whatever parts I could use because he just wants the body panels and he's just junking the rest. He'd rather do me the favor than have it scrapped. I've learned in life that if good things happen, you don't question them:) Now if only 9" electric motors would start falling out of the sky.....:D Oh, did I mention that this guy is also the guy who sideswiped one of my Geos:p My karma ran over your dogma....