by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)
Welcome to the 3rd post in my Doodad series of blogs. Here is part 1 & 2.These blogs are about my Volkswagen Beetles and my attempt to get them looking and running great (and possibly sell one or both of them).
Today’s update is due to the nice weather. Over the New Years weekend the temperatures here were in the low 70’s in the afternoons (Friday and Saturday) with sun and mild temperatures on Sunday. I started working on the cars last week when I got the guy who sold me the 70 Beetle to come over and adjust the carb to keep it running. He came over and adjusted it and the Super Beetle so it wouldn’t idle so high. It wasn’t a perfect fix for both but it did help.
Last week I drove the Super around a bit and bought some Sea Foam on his advice for both cars. You can get it at Walmart or Autozone. It is a gas additive that is supposed to do some great stuff for older engines. Anyway I got the Super ready to take into Decatur to get the inspection and get new tags. I didn’t remember getting the notice in the mail to renew the tags so I read on the Texas DPS site to just bring in the old receipt and they can issue you new tags with it.
The first day I tried to take it to work (which is in Decatur as well) the key wouldn’t turn in the ignition. I tired and tried and bent the key a bit and finally gave up. After work I played with it some more and put some graphite in the key hole and got it to work.
The next morning I got out there and pulled out into the street and felt the car pull to the right. I got out and sure enough one of the front tires was flat. I know that 3 of the 4 tires have slow leaks but they are REALLY slow and the tire was fine the day before. I pulled back in and gave up on that day. After work I pulled the tire off, aired it up and poured water on it to see if I could see any bubbles. Nothing… I put it back on and decided to try yet again the next day.
On Friday I got it to work without any mishaps. At lunch I went to the inspection place and waited forever there. The guy who owns it does a lot of business and works alone. While looking in the glove box for the insurance paper I found an envelope. Lo and behold there was the tags. I HAD gotten them back in May but I never put them on the car. I just shoved the envelope in the glove box. Once I got the inspection I put the tag sticker on as well. Finally! The Super is now street legal again. It’s a fun car to drive but there is still alot of work that needs to be done for it to be a ‘daily driver’.
On Saturday and Sunday I worked on the Beetle. I beld the brakes and they tightened right up! The brake fluid that came out was really dark though, almost looked like oil so I might have an issue in there (or maybe I just need to flush it all). I took out the stereo that was in there and put the tape deck I had just bought before I traded in the Ranger. Once I got it hooked up I found out that the speaker wires were all backwards so I put played with them until I got them all in the right spots.
I also adjusted the driver seat belt retractor. It was all loose and the seat belt wouldn’t retract but now it does. I also cleaned off the little add-on console that was originally in the car when bought it and reinstalled it so I could have a place to put sodas and other junk. I cleaned the car out again and used some Armor All on parts inside to get it extra nice looking.
I drove it to work today and it was fine (after it warmed up). I will attempt to get it inspected and then I will have a daily driving car that will be a lot more pocket book friendly at nearly 30 miles per gallon.