Tommy's A-series Misery - Mini Action (plus bonus Aggro)

[Mally]

On 16/11/2023 at 18:18, N Dentressangle said:

Use it as a good excuse to buy one of these:

https://www.costco.co.uk/Tyres-Automotive/Garage/Trolley-Jacks-Axle-Stands/Arcan-2750kg-3-Ton-Steel-Service-Jack-Model-XL2750EU/p/254971

You will never regret it. I got one a few years ago and use it often, having made do with the usual little DIY one for ages.

It makes SO many jobs easier and safer. Could make a nice Xmas present too 😉

These jacks are good, but horrendously  heavy . The SGS one is £151 at the moment but without the stands.

A 2 ton SGS low profile is our favourite. Easier to carry and store.

[Zelandeth]

Hard to believe they were still fitting them with generators in the 90s!

[Matty]

4 hours ago, Mally said:

These jacks are good, but horrendously  heavy . The SGS one is £151 at the moment but without the stands.

A 2 ton SGS low profile is our favourite. Easier to carry and store.

I bought an ally Clarke low profile 1.5 t. Beautifully light but not exactly an industrial piece of kit. Will probs need to upgrade to something that's on top of the job in the future. Doesn't struggle with the A40 but feels limited with the fiesta and bm.

[Mally]

10 minutes ago, Matty said:

I bought an ally Clarke low profile 1.5 t. Beautifully light but not exactly an industrial piece of kit. Will probs need to upgrade to something that's on top of the job in the future. Doesn't struggle with the A40 but feels limited with the fiesta and bm.

https://www.sgs-engineering.com/catalog/product/view/id/2112/s/tjl2-2-tonne-low-profile-trolley-jack/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAsIGrBhAAEiwAEzMlC2yJESJ7E6I2ynZHBnaWzl81nAl_zb9xBWjAa-UwtyZhMwYxoJE4BxoCzb4QAvD_BwE

Black Friday innit. plus £7 delivery

Only problem is you can't drag the car with a loose handle.

[Matty]

1 hour ago, Mally said:

https://www.sgs-engineering.com/catalog/product/view/id/2112/s/tjl2-2-tonne-low-profile-trolley-jack/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAsIGrBhAAEiwAEzMlC2yJESJ7E6I2ynZHBnaWzl81nAl_zb9xBWjAa-UwtyZhMwYxoJE4BxoCzb4QAvD_BwE

Black Friday innit. plus £7 delivery

Only problem is you can't drag the car with a loose handle.

You can't drag the car with a limp wristed ally jack with castors a hostess trolley would be ashamed of either 😄

[Mally]

7 hours ago, Matty said:

You can't drag the car with a limp wristed ally jack with castors a hostess trolley would be ashamed of either 😄

The SGS 3 ton low profile is an excellent tool.  Very safe and can drag cars sideways with it.

But it needs to be used on a flat solid floor and is almost impossible to carry for long distances.

[Tommyboy12]

I have both. A 3T high lift which I used to use on a jumbo Transit and I have a low 1.5T.  It's not what I would call low profile but it's low enough for all bar one car I've ever owned.

The Beetle lives again! My generator repair/alternator conversion is complete!

I removed the external regulator too so did a bit of wiring.

The place it used to live.

While the carb was off I also stripped off the redundant altitude mixture adjuster (pictures here held on with cable ties). Needed for the heights of Mexico maybe, but not the flats of the Fens.

Lastly I went very posh and got a Bluetooth adapter for my tape deck and single speaker. Now I can listen to all my bangin tunez innit.

Not much left to fix. I need to look at the handbrake and find a pair of heater ducts. Otherwise the Bug is in pretty fine fettle now.

Scored a free screwdriver under the passenger seat too

[Asimo]

1 hour ago, Tommyboy12 said:

On all of my air-cooled VWs I disabled the automatic choke by clipping it permanently open. This seemed to save a useful bit of petrol  and only required a few pumps of the pedal to squirt the accelerator pump to richen things enough to start quickly.

[Tommyboy12]

The Beetle had a good run out with a few friends to the new Caffeine and Machine venue near Millbrook proving ground. It's new alternator and properly tensioned auxiliary belt behaved properly and I enjoyed having Bluetooth audio. It's properly cold when it's -1C and you have no heater though.

 

[Matty]

Good to see it out. Obvious question, mini or beetle? Or are they just so different that it isn't a fair comparison?

[Tommyboy12]

The engine note and driving style of the Beetle is completely different to a Mini and it's entertaining to drive so far. I am enjoying ownership overall. It's very different. Not so much sit up and beg like a Mini, a bit more of a normal driving position. But it has off centre steering wheel like a Mini. Gearbox is nice to operate. Brakes are ok although not fantastic. Could be the car or the setup.

It's not quick. I struggled to keep up with a standard 1275 automatic Mini today. If the 1600 twin port is meant to be the fast Beetle engine then there isn't much hope 😅

I think having owned and enjoyed both. I am sticking with Minis being my favourite.

Although really I need to get a 2CV for a true comparison of people's cars!

[Matty]

52 minutes ago, Tommyboy12 said:

Although really I need to get a 2CV for a true comparison of people's cars!

You should do this!

[Dyslexic Viking]

1 hour ago, Tommyboy12 said:

Although really I need to get a 2CV for a true comparison of people's cars!

And a Renault 4?

[EyesWeldedShut]

https://classiccarhirekent.co.uk/portfolio/citroen-2cv-e462-fuf/

Other providers nearer to your location may exist....

[Bazfr69]

1 hour ago, Tommyboy12 said:

The engine note and driving style of the Beetle is completely different to a Mini and it's entertaining to drive so far. I am enjoying ownership overall. It's very different. Not so much sit up and beg like a Mini, a bit more of a normal driving position. But it has off centre steering wheel like a Mini. Gearbox is nice to operate. Brakes are ok although not fantastic. Could be the car or the setup.

It's not quick. I struggled to keep up with a standard 1275 automatic Mini today. If the 1600 twin port is meant to be the fast Beetle engine then there isn't much hope 😅

I think having owned and enjoyed both. I am sticking with Minis being my favourite.

Although really I need to get a 2CV for a true comparison of people's cars!

I was giving some serious thought to a 2CV for a while before I bought my Beetle. 
I’d still love to try one. 

[Matty]

2 minutes ago, Bazfr69 said:

I was giving some serious thought to a 2CV for a while before I bought my Beetle. 
I’d still love to try one. 

I used to sometimes get a lift to school in one. Likewise I've always wanted to try one

[garethj]

On 26/11/2023 at 15:46, Tommyboy12 said:

The Beetle had a good run out with a few friends to the new Caffeine and Machine venue near Millbrook proving ground. It's new alternator and properly tensioned auxiliary belt behaved properly and I enjoyed having Bluetooth audio. It's properly cold when it's -1C and you have no heater though.

 

Nice!  That’s about 10 minutes from my house!

Looking at your picture here…

 

You’ve got a hose missing from the air filter, next to the red one in the middle.

There’s a colossal sender next to the oil pressure switch below the distributor, what’s it for?

Keep an eye on gaps in the engine tinware especially above the silencer.  The engine bay should be completely sealed so the fan draws in cool air from the slots below the rear window and on the engine lid, not pulling in warm air over the exhaust.

I don’t have much experience with Mexican Beetles but the German ones had alternators from about 1974, does your engine number say it’s original to the car?

As for performance, lots of the piston & cylinder rebuild kits were low compression so they’d be suitable for camper vans too.  That means about 45bhp instead of the throbbing 50😀. Possible that your engine has had this at some point.

I’ve found that a decent 1500 or 1600 is quick enough for anything other than long hills at 50+ mph when they struggle.  My last Beetle had a carefully built 1641cc kit with two twin Webers and nice breathing on the heads.  It did 0-60 in under 10 seconds which is fairly speedy in an ancient car.

[Tommyboy12]

1 hour ago, garethj said:

Nice!  That’s about 10 minutes from my house!

Looking at your picture here…

 

You’ve got a hose missing from the air filter, next to the red one in the middle.

There’s a colossal sender next to the oil pressure switch below the distributor, what’s it for?

Keep an eye on gaps in the engine tinware especially above the silencer.  The engine bay should be completely sealed so the fan draws in cool air from the slots below the rear window and on the engine lid, not pulling in warm air over the exhaust.

I don’t have much experience with Mexican Beetles but the German ones had alternators from about 1974, does your engine number say it’s original to the car?

As for performance, lots of the piston & cylinder rebuild kits were low compression so they’d be suitable for camper vans too.  That means about 45bhp instead of the throbbing 50😀. Possible that your engine has had this at some point.

I’ve found that a decent 1500 or 1600 is quick enough for anything other than long hills at 50+ mph when they struggle.  My last Beetle had a carefully built 1635cc kit with two twin Webers and nice breathing on the heads.  It did 0-60 in under 10 seconds which is fairly speedy in an ancient car.

Im aware of the hole in the air box. I wrapped it in electrical tape 😅

The large oil pressure switch did have wiring on it that headed forwards. I found the other end disconnected in the passenger footwell along with more wires. I stripped out that wiring along with a load of other redundant wiring a few weeks ago. Not sure what it was for originally but it's not present now!

I suspect the generator was original because the voltage regulator had 'Hecho en México' (made in Mexico) stamped on it. The alternator pedestal also had the VW Audi logo and the word Brazil cast into it which I'm guessing mean it came from the Brazilian Beetle production line. That being said the generator has been off in the past. One of the four bolts for the fan shroud backing plate was missing (the one behind the carb).

The supposed power is 60hp but I'm fairly sure it doesn't have that much power. It'll pull 70mph but any more is an actual struggle. I could barely keep up with a 1275 auto Mini but I could outpace a 998 auto Mini. So I'm guessing somewhere around 50hp given the weight penalty.

[garethj]

1 hour ago, Tommyboy12 said:

Im aware of the hole in the air box. I wrapped it in electrical tape 😅

The large oil pressure switch did have wiring on it that headed forwards. I found the other end disconnected in the passenger footwell along with more wires. I stripped out that wiring along with a load of other redundant wiring a few weeks ago. Not sure what it was for originally but it's not present now!

I suspect the generator was original because the voltage regulator had 'Hecho en México' (made in Mexico) stamped on it. The alternator pedestal also had the VW Audi logo and the word Brazil cast into it which I'm guessing mean it came from the Brazilian Beetle production line. That being said the generator has been off in the past. One of the four bolts for the fan shroud backing plate was missing (the one behind the carb).

The supposed power is 60hp but I'm fairly sure it doesn't have that much power. It'll pull 70mph but any more is an actual struggle. I could barely keep up with a 1275 auto Mini but I could outpace a 998 auto Mini. So I'm guessing somewhere around 50hp given the weight penalty.

60bhp is an SAE figure, the 1600 engine is 50bhp DIN which is what we use now.

Flat out should be 80mph, the 44bhp cars could do 78mph and 40bhp got you to 75mph.

Have you done a compression test to see what condition the engine is in?  Should be 100psi on all cylinders and all within 5psi of each other.  Do the valve clearances first though.

The John Muir “idiot” book is brilliant for this.

[MiniMinorMk3]

That sender was probably connected to something like a TIM oil pressure gauge.

 

[bigstraight6]

On 26/11/2023 at 20:13, Tommyboy12 said:

The engine note and driving style of the Beetle is completely different to a Mini and it's entertaining to drive so far. I am enjoying ownership overall. It's very different. Not so much sit up and beg like a Mini, a bit more of a normal driving position. But it has off centre steering wheel like a Mini. Gearbox is nice to operate. Brakes are ok although not fantastic. Could be the car or the setup.

It's not quick. I struggled to keep up with a standard 1275 automatic Mini today. If the 1600 twin port is meant to be the fast Beetle engine then there isn't much hope 😅

I think having owned and enjoyed both. I am sticking with Minis being my favourite.

Although really I need to get a 2CV for a true comparison of people's cars!

Great memories being stirred up here of my daily drivers 30-35 years ago, I loved my Beetles and they were great fun but the few Renault 4’s I owned seemed to be easier to use daily and had working heaters! 

[Tommyboy12]

I've been off this week so spent a bit of time doing some jobs to the fleet. Mostly it's been fighting the Mégane to replace the front struts. It was a royal pain. The RS model has unique alloy hubs that clamp onto steel shock absorbers with a steel bolt. Bimetallic corrosion has not been my friend. I managed to remove one strut without removing the hub by compressing the spring insitu but standard practice is to remove the whole hub and strut for this job. Which I had to do on the other side because the bolts were seized in place. It took me 7 hours to do two struts. However, my track car now has cup pack suspension! Totally worth it...

I also did some welding on my dad's MG this week. It's been sat waiting on this since my girlfriend binned it in the September... However it's not in a position it can be filled and painted.

I've also upgraded the speaker on my Beetle! I now have the luxury of a speaker in each door instead of just one in the passenger door!

I celebrated the new found volume by going to Tesco today to buy milk. It was hell on earth unsurprisingly given it's the last Saturday before Christmas.

Over the winter break I'm intending to give the MGF another go. I really want to get it sorted. Then if I can fit it in around the weather I'm going to start welding my brown Mini.

[Tommyboy12]

Got up close and personal with my biggest fan today. Fitted a high flow fan to my turbo Mini today to go along with a fan for the oil cooler. It's a tight fit against the reinforcing bar for the removable front I have so I had to shimmy things around a bit.

I'm glad to finally have it fitted as I've been meaning to do it for a while. Should help with temps when it gets hot.

[Matty]

There's a lot going on in there! Top work 👍

[Tommyboy12]

I spent some time on the Beetle today. I managed to do quite a bit and basically now have a fully functional and road legal bug!

First off I sorted the handbrake lever. The handbrake was working but the button was stuck so it wasn't holding the handbrake. I stripped the handbrake down and found the handbrake lever itself had bent and wasn't holding the button and rod in place inside the lever. A quick clamp in the vice and I have a handbrake!

Next up changing the rear shoes. There's been a grinding noise coming from the rear right. I assumed it was worn shoes. Turns out they were fine. It was rust and brake dust build up. As I had bought shoes and hardware anyway I changed them. Meant I could clean and free everything off. Handy really as one of the adjusters was seized. I had to apply some heat and brute force but it came out in the end.

Passenger side (note the missing heater duct in the background).

Drivers side (heater duct in place)

 

Nice new shoes and hardware. Adjusted at the drums and I also adjusted the handbrake

 

Lastly I wanted to give it a service. I drove it home from Paignton and have been driving it round for some time on the oil in it. God knows how old it is or when the last filter (tea strainer) change was. So I drained the old oil out and set about swapping the filter which is a bit unconventional. Plus it looks like it could filter anything. More of a tea strainer than anything else.

It's fitted in the following order. Block, gasket, filter, gasket, filter cover, 6 copper washers and 6 nuts. Then another bolt and washer in the middle of draining the oil. Handling all that while gravity fights you is a bit of a pain plus I had to spend about 20 minutes scraping the old gasket off the block. I don't really want to do that again in a hurry! There was quite a lot of the forbidden Nutella gummed up in the filter cover and filter though so I'm glad I changed it.

And thafs it! Off to a breakfast meet with it tomorrow. I shall continue to enjoy it and tinker!

[Asimo]

Also note the missing Z-bar. That hole should support the end of a torsion-spring, a bit like an anti-roll bar but in fact the exact opposite, as it stiffens the rear up without making it resist roll.

 

 

[Back_For_More]

Why did the lever bend? Just not man enough and it'll do it again or side impacted somehow? 

Does it need strengthening at all? 

Not seen it happen on the 2 I had years ago -  colour me intrigued 

[Tommyboy12]

2 hours ago, Asimo said:

Also note the missing Z-bar. That hole should support the end of a torsion-spring, a bit like an anti-roll bar but in fact the exact opposite, as it stiffens the rear up without making it resist roll.

 

 

I didn't even know that was a thing! Not sure why it would be missing but given the age of the car anything could have happened to it.

[Tommyboy12]

1 hour ago, Back_For_More said:

Why did the lever bend? Just not man enough and it'll do it again or side impacted somehow? 

Does it need strengthening at all? 

Not seen it happen on the 2 I had years ago -  colour me intrigued

The metal folding/pressing in the handle had spread out so the rod for the button was free to slip past the hook if acts on. I'm guessing sideways force probably caused it to spread. I clamped it up with some grips and it doesn't slip out now

[Tommyboy12]

Took the Beetle to a breakfast meet. Parked next to its great-great-grandson. It's nice to have a handbrake!