Week 2- Part 2 - History and new parts

With the car came lots of history, tax discs back to 1974 and the owner manual, service book etc. Nice to have all this original stuff.

This week I also picked up the first couple of purchases for the car. 2 rear wings. They are new but with surface rust as have been sitting around for a while. It was a bargain that I couldn't resist for £20. The man also through in a front valance when i was there which i also needed so a real bargain. Going to keep my eye out for things up for sale to buy at a good price.

Week 2 - Engine strip down

This week was taking the engine out and striping it down to find out what was wrong with it.

Taking out the engine was relatively simple but you have to get the beetle pretty high to then slide the engine out from underneath. Even the top level of axle stands wasn't high enough so we lifted the back of the car up with an engine lift.

 So with the engine out it was time to start to strip it down to find out what was stopping the engine from turning. All the ancillaries were taken off, exhaust, heater channels (new ones needed) alternator, carb, tinware etc. We started to notice a couple of bolts missing and not all were very tight.
When we got to the pistons and barrels one of the pistons came out as the con rod had been sheared.

This was the cause of the engine stopping. Looks like the con rod hadn't been tightened as the bolt was floating around in the crankcase. We split the crankcase to see the full extent of the damage. The conrod has caused a lot of damage to the crankshaft and the crankcase. The case had made two of the cam follower housing oval and cracked the case.

So now we know whats wrong with the engine, which bit are good and what it bust. Not sure yet what the plan of action is. Need to have a look around for how much second hand engines go for, what parts are available and what it all costs. Plenty of other things to get on with in the meantime!

Welcome to project Grasshopper

Hello

Welcome to project Grasshopper. My second VW beetle that I went and picked up today. This is going to be a project myself and my other half Richard do over a couple of years as a weekend project, taking care and thought to restore the car and hopefully keep it going for at least another 40 years.

The bug - 1973 1303 green VW beetle. It looks great, love all the features on it and it looked pretty solid for 40 years old. We know the engine has problems and there are other things that will need doing on a car of its age but it is the perfect project for what I wanted.

The car ready to be picked up

 The car has obviously been always loved especially by the last owner who owned it for 11 years and took great care of it making sure all the necessary things are done. There are loads of receipts and MOTs going back years including tax discs for most years back to 1974.

Me and my new big when home

So today, we collected it and got it trailered back to Mums garage. Then 6 hours of tiding, moving and sorting through the garage to make the room for Grasshoppers new home.

Grasshopper settled in for her first night in her new home

So it has been a long day, but very exciting. I'm so pleased to have another beetle as my pride and joy.
So what's my plan for her, I don't know..... time to start planning how I want her to be.