Air cooled Volkswagen appreciation thread

My grandparents bought a ‘69 Beetle (w/AutoStick) new. My grandmother drove it for the next 20 years. I had my own old ‘70 in college. Scraped more ice off the inside of the windshield than outside.

Apparently, that was enough. I caught the bug. Just bought a ‘13 Beetle, and it’s bringing back fond memories. Sure, it’s a completely different driving experience (and a far safer one), but the spirit of the original is still there. All I have to do is turn off the a/c, crank up one speaker on a crackly AM station, and disable two of the five cylinders for the full experience. ;)
 
My grandparents bought a ‘69 Beetle (w/AutoStick) new. My grandmother drove it for the next 20 years. I had my own old ‘70 in college. Scraped more ice off the inside of the windshield than outside.

Apparently, that was enough. I caught the bug. Just bought a ‘13 Beetle, and it’s bringing back fond memories. Sure, it’s a completely different driving experience (and a far safer one), but the spirit of the original is still there. All I have to do is turn off the a/c, crank up one speaker on a crackly AM station, and disable two of the five cylinders for the full experience. ;)
I started with a ‘58 - no gas gauge. It had a reserve valve handle sticking through at the bottom of the “firewall” and a dip stick. The full experience for me included running out of gas a lot. It really sucked when it was already in reserve position. But one time the valve handle came off in my hand because the cotter pin rusted away. As you said “it was enough”. After intervening Rabbits and Passats I bought a 2014 R-Line Beetle Convertible. There is an obvious distillation of good stuff from the bug in there.
 
I love my 69 autostick but DAMN it frustrates the hell out of me sometimes!
I don't know how much any of you know about autosticks or care, but basically the way it works is, there is a set of eletrical contacts at the base of the shifter-- when you shift, those contacts rub together creating a grounded circuit that sends a signal to a vacuum control valve in the engine bay. During normal driving or when you are in neutral that valve is open between a vacuum hose attached to the intake manifold, and a vacuum storage tank under the rear fender. When you shift and activate that control valve it closes the valve between those two hoses and opens a valve between the storage tank hose and another hose that goes to a clutch servo canister mounted on the transmission with a rubber diaphragm inside. The canister has a vacuum-operated arm extending outward that is linked to a clutch arm extending down into the transmission via a hinge pin. When this canister receives vacuum it pulls the clutch arm and operates the clutch so you can shift. All of this happens in less than a second!
The autsotick gearing is actually the exact equivalent of the typical 4 speed manual, only it has just 3 forward gears (Low, Drive 1, and Drive 2, equivalent to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of the 4 speed, with a torque converter taking the place of 1st gear.) Instead of a flywheel you have a flexible drive plate attached to the front end of the crank, that bolts to the torque converter which sits inside the transmisison bell housing. So when you are installing the engine, you push the engine in up against the torque converter, and then there is a window in the side of the bell housing that you reach through and bolt 4 equally spaced tabs around the torque converter to corresponding threaded holes on the flex plate.
Reason I bring this all up, is because my bug had developed an issue where a small tear occurred in the clutch servo diaphragm making it impossible to hold vacuum and therefore extremely difficult to shift. I needed to remove the clutch servo canister to check it, but as I was knocking out the hinge pin that holds the canister arm to the clutch arm, when it came out it fell right down into the bell housing window. (This happens VERY easily, especially when going to put in those torque converter bolts that hold it to the flex plate. If this happens, yep you have to remove the WHOLE ENGINE to retrieve them.)
So over the last few days, I pulled the engine to retrieve that hinge pin, and then after reinstalling the engine, while putting those bolts back in, I snapped the head off one while tightening it down!! :mad:
Any way to drill this sucker out without having to remove the engine yet again??

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I don't really know what the point of my post was except to vent...

I would risk running it with only three torque convertor bolts. It's really not very stressed given the application. The Type III and IV automatic convertors only had 3 M8 screws retaining them and more horsepower/torque. I would make a good try at drilling and extracting it in-situ-with no head/no tension, it should come out easy. Maybe order a couple left hand drill bits so you don't screw it in and out into the bell housing! We helicoiled the drive-plates more than once, but that's not sensible in place because you'd have to drill through and tap through the torque convertor; that diameter would leave very little support under the small torque converter screw head.
I had a foreign car repair shop for 45 years; started in 71, until 85 all we did was VW/Audi. I think I have pretty good sense of what's sensible and what's not on these vehicles.
What's the worst thing that could happen? Not much or likely IMO. We never had to replace an autostick drive plate for cracking or loose hardware, at least any we tightened!

I sold the place two years ago. All that it was is gone. I still had all my 1132 parts: disc, pressure plate, and release bearing; stator support gasket and "O" ring; torque convertor bushing; the two oil pump seals separating oil & ATF; drive plate pilot bearing and carrier bearing; mainsheet seal, "A" & "B" suffix convertor seals and the inside oil seal. Everything ended up in a dumpster. Such a waste! (also a great collection of old special tools and parts)
We actually fixed problems. It was amusing seeing what a dealer could do to an autostick or a gas heater! I miss those days.
I had a 63 Canadian (12V electrics!) delivery twin cab pickup, a 69 single cab and many Beetles, Ghias Squarebacks and buses.
Got paralyzed in 95. Built a hand controlled 5spd 88 GTI racecar and ran quite competitively with it for 3 years before writing it off at Road Atlanta. Used autostick clutch servo, shifter base/microswitch, and vacuum control valve to do clutching. Later on, servoed downshifts (5/4 & 4/3) using a pair of Golf wiper motors to pair of downshift buttons on the hand control.
For the last 12 years I've been driving GTIs with DSG trans, an 06 and now a 2015.

PS: in Europe in the early/mid sixties, the autostick wasn't sold with a torque convertor. European 1200 Sedans had a "Saxomat" option that was nearly identical to the autistic except it had a normal clutch operated by the vacuum servo. When I put the autistic servo stuff on the race-car, I doubted it would be real drivable from a stop. The servo control valve has a load vacuum signal and an adjustment for speed of application (of clutch). I drilled the Digifant throttle body and installed a vacuum tube just upstream of the primary throttle plate (so velocity across the tube goes down as the throttle opens farther, and the vacuum decreases with load)
It was incredible! What freedom for a paralyzed driver to shift again! Let go of the clutch button or the shifter and it would initiate engagement; at idle on level ground, very slowly release the clutch and start the car off without throttling. And with every increase in throttle opening when starting off, it would comply as if it was my leg on the pedals! 1200 rpm and briskly pull out onto the highway; 3000: hole shot!
 
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The autosticks were actually EXTREMELY reliable, due in no small part to the fact that the clutch disc was internal, and only operated when necessary (i.e. no slip.) The vacuum hoses were wire reinforced so they hardly ever went bad- and the clutch servo canister on mine was the original- lasted 49 years before needing replaced. The problem was that most side shop VW mechanics were not well versed in the operation of the autostick (especially before the advent of the internet where info about them was fairly scarce) and therefore didn't really know how to diagnose an issue. Nine times out of ten, a shifting problem could be traced to the contacts in the base of the shifter being out of adjustment (so the control valve did not operate when you shifted) or a break in the wire going from the contacts back to the control valve. Or possibly the servo canister arm adjuster sleeve being out of whack and so not properly operating the clutch arm. But instead of diagnosing the issue properly, they would say the transmission was done, and they would recommend the owner swap it for a 4 speed to make it easier on themselves (the mechanics) and make a nice little profit, when all it would have taken to fix was a wrench and/or some electric tape.

Those frustrating things I mentioned earlier (like dropping stuff down into the bell housing) I just chalk up to VW air cooled quirkiness.

Only problem with that scenario: does the chassis have the clutch tube? (runs through the tunnel and welded in place). Most didn't and without a clutch tube it was a no brainer not to try doing. Many owners stopped at Phil's after the dealer blew their mind on an autostick estimate, and we fixed it on the spot!
 
Also, despite the numerous repeated teeth-gnashings and hand-wringings in VW circles concerning the autostick, it has been quite reliable only had to have it serviced once in the near 50 years of ownership. Cannot say the same for the engine....
 
Arrrgggg! I really need to get mine finished! Every time this thread pops up it reminds me. Mine is a '68 bug
 
We had one as a kid car a long time ago. good memories. Glad I don't own one anymore. For me, today, the VW Bug equivalent is a Prius. A real folks car if you buy used. But the Prius has better traction in the snow with front wheel drive. The weighted rear wheels on the Bug were pretty good, but still rear wheel drive.
 
Just watched S1E2 of Paul Hollywood’s Big Continental Road Trip in Germany. He drives a nice Kombi for a day. Good stuff.
 
oooh, Skoda :)

I came distressingly close to buying a semi-restored '72 (Super, I think) Beetle for $4k last fall from our mechanic here in town. It is/was his wife's fun car, and is in good running order. I was sooooooo tempted.

Paradoxically, there are a lot of Beetles in our area -- even though the weather and terrain here are about as Beetle-hostile as anywhere in the US. Maybe the Alaskan interior would be a little worse...
 
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