[T3] Newbie with dumb questions.

[Jim Adney]

On 27 Jan 2011 at 12:14, Tom Hottinger wrote:

> Been looking at some of the posts and am almost afraid to ask.  It appears
> that this is mostly a bunch of purists and I'm afraid I may be hunted down
> with pitch forks and torches.

Fair enough, we'll leave the pitchforks at home.   ;-)

> But here goes, I used to play with Beetles and Things but had to get away
> for about 10 years.  Now I'm back out of necessity (I hate spending over
> $100 a week to keep the wife's Jeep Commander full of gas).  I've decided to
> drag a Type 3 Fastback out of the weeds and build a nice fuel efficient
> daily driver.  I haven't touched it in 10 years so I can't remember what
> year it is but I think it is a 72.

We always like to hear resurrection stories, so I hope you can get it 
going.

> It is a very stock survivor with no rust or dents.  Ran great when parked
> but the Thing was so much more fun to drive.  I am wanting to put a
> hydraulic 1776 and add air conditioning and possibly aftermarket EFI.  Most
> of that is "No harm, No foul".

Keep in mind that lots of things have gone south in those 10 years. 
It's really disappointing to spend your whole budget on "upgrades" 
and only then discover that there are lots of other problems ($$$) 
that need attention before the car becomes drivable. Get it drivable 
first, then think about the changes you'd like to make.

I'm not sure if there are any decent hydraulic kits out there. The 
last word I heard was that our engines just didn't have enough oil 
pressure to keep hydraulics pumped up. Late Type 4 engines came with 
hydraulics, but that's a COMPLETELY different engine. Those lifters 
won't work in our cars.

Bigger engines are a real possibility, but you have to be careful. 
There are lots of people out there who will try to sell you on 
"upgrades" that just boil down to poor quality or poorly thought out. 
If you want to go this route, I suggest you start by studying "How to 
Hot Rod the VW Engine" by Bill Fisher. He's not trying to sell you 
anything, so there's a LOT of really valuable info there, with a 
total lack of hype.  

AC is a problem on these cars. To install it, you have to cut into 
the cooling air intake to mount the belt for the compressor. That 
allows the engine to pull in hot air to cool itself, while you put 
extra load on the engine in hot weather. Durability is poor.

If this really is a '72 (look at the 3rd digit of the VIN) then this 
should already be FI. It's pretty good as is. If you want to do 
better, you'll have to spend a LOT of money on the FI system and the 
engine that can handle it. As the speed shop sign says, "Speed costs 
money. How fast do you want to go?"  

> I hate the "Ivory" off white so am planning a paint job.  I have 3 parts
> cars, 1 of which is a older swing axle fastback.

Off white, really? I don't think I'd care for it either, but in 40 
years I think I've only ever seen 1 or 2 other white Type 3s.

> I know the back fenders are easily enough swapped.  My question is: Does
> anyone know how difficult oe even possible to swap the front clip.  I know I
> will have to cut out the front apron but beyond that I don't know how much
> more it would entail.

Don't think in terms of a clip, just take the front fenders. They 
come off as easily as the rears. If you need to rework the front 
apron that's a separate project.

If you're after the look of the early body style, forget this one and 
find a '69. Unless you're rich or a body man with lots of energy and 
time, the '69 will put you WAY ahead of the game. You can't imagine 
the amount of time BobNotch has put into his cars.

-- 
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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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