<VV> BUGgy

[Chuck Kubin]

Hey Ryan,

Not a bad choice for another fun car. I passed on VWs and a nice Karmann Ghia when I was pushed into my first car, a '64 Monza. Later I played with VWs when I decided I'd finally get a bus and later had a bug and two Ghias.

Go to a swap meet or VW event and have a look around. This will help you decide what route you want to take (Bug, bus, Ghia, Squareback, custom, resto, hotrod, trick, race). There are tons of relatively cheap parts out there and almost endless maintenance sources, not to mention bolt-on performance improvements. There are also several owner & club websites. I've seen a drag Ghia with two engines in tandem; a Bug limo with suicide doors; I work with a guy who put a smallblock Chevy in the FRONT of a Squareback; I've seen a Buick V-6 in the back of a bus. The possibilities are pretty wild.

Weigh whether your parts dollars are better spent on real things that work or super-chromy-speeder junk for looks. It is always better to see the parts so you can judge the quality first-hand. Mexico quit buildiing Bugs only about a year ago, so between Mexico and Brazil you have dozens of body part sources. It is cheaper to hang a new fender than to pay a bodyman to pound out the compound curves.

Easiest to get is a bug. Ghias use a few unique body and interior parts but are all-Bug under the skin. Ghia is unibody, like a Corvair, and it is getting hard to find one that isn't rusted out in the corners or hasn't been made round and sexy again by gallons of Bondo. Check to make sure the nose of your bus was repaired properly after the previous owner hit someone else. In all cases, a VW rusts in the same places as a Corvair except for the LM windhield corners.

Type 1 engines are less likely to be available as they are the oldest design from early Bugs. Type 2 is most common up to 1972 and is usually a 1600cc displacement. Both come with simple one-barrel carbs and simple distributors. Type 3 showed up in Superbeetles and later buses and have Porsche (expensive) cylinders and a couple other Porsche components, plus are more complicated to work on. If you get a Type 1 or 2 engine, stock cylinders are 82-84mm. You can buy and bolt in an 87mm set for not much more money and jump right up to 1724cc without boring the heads or block. If you do want top really hot rod it, you can modify the heads and block for 96mm jugs and slugs before the metal starts getting too thin to bother, although you'll likely get into cooling troubles.  VW guys are really fond of model 008 distributors if you can get one. There are tons of bolt-on performance and frou-frou parts. You want hot pink plug wires? They are on the shelf next to the red, green, yellow, blue,
 white and turquoise ones and the matching distributor caps. I'm pretty sure you can also get just about anything in chrome, including firewalls, with or without louvers.

Overall maintenace: if you can or have done it on a Corvair, working on a VW is positively elementary. Ball joints do take a special tool, but it is one of very few jobs where it pays to have someopne else do it. Every fastener on a VW is 10mm, 13mm, 15mm or 17mm with only a couple exceptions. Four bolts, throttle and heater cables and the fuel line and the engine is out on the floor, using a floor jack to pull it. I know the 20 minutes this used to take me isn't a record.

Oh, and a Bug with good door seals and solid heater ducts WILL float!

Back to work, but that's enough to wet your whistle.

Chuck Kubin


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