The previous episode of this adventure is Update 1. The first obvious note is that there has been a huge delay. It’s not my fault — blame it on a combination of Aduanas and TCI Express, the company I use to ship things from the US to here. That story is, well, not very interesting but here goes.
I now have the manuals with such important information as the specs for the front brakes. This is important because the SuperBeetle front drums are a different size than all the regular Bugs. Also, while I still don’t have everything I ordered last year, it was time to do a bit of work.
The first work was to build a bench in the garage. Well worth the few hours and the scrap lumber. Then, I went to start the car to move it a bit. While I didn’t expect it to start quickly because it had not been started in months and with a carb and mechanical fuel pump it would take some cranking but, this time, too much. This morning I loosened the float bowl drain plug and there is gas there. So, time to check for spark.
I popped the cap for the distributor and immediately saw some “non-traditional work”. In other words, some pretty shitty work. The insulator for the wire to the points had been replaced with a blob of hot glue or epoxy — which was not stuck to anything. The ground lead for the points was fried. Not having any VW parts available locally I started to kludge together something that would work. It went downhill from there.
I eventually pulled the distributor to make it easier to work on. I shook it and it rattled. I turned it over and shook it and a ball bearing fell out. Huh? No clue where that came from but it also looked like some of the epoxy broke off and totaled some other stuff. Conclusion: replace. It’s strange to be replacing gas engine parts on something I will convert to electric but I really want to drive it first to find any problems with the brakes, CVJs, … before doing the conversion. So, I will buy a “009”. They are about $33 on-line. No clue what they will cost at the Bug places in Mixco.
Tomorrow I will pop off the wheels and get a look at the front brake drums. If they need to be replaced, I will order a disk conversion kit. Also, hopefully, I can get a look at the CVJs so I can put together one order.
Just a couple of quick comments:
1. The front drums and lining seem OK but there is one leaking wheel cylinder.
2. Have been unable to take off the rear drums yet. My 36mm socket is for 3/4″ drive and my 3/4: breaker bar apparently left my life a few moves ago.
I am building a shopping list. Depending on how many items I might buy it in Guate. Or, …
Note that the batteries are finally here but I have yet to order the electric conversion components.