dune buggies and hotVWs September 2018

It was a fantastic week of VW events. During the first and second weekends of June, Southern California became once again the Universe’s greatest VW wonderland. It truly proves that So-Cal is still the Mecca of the air-cooled Volkswagen scene. The “beyond huge” ten consecutive days offered so many Vee Dub activities… In between the two weekends, we had FIVE major VW events, along with several open houses, cruises and BBQ hosted by local VW shops and clubs. The whole package attracted enthusiasts from all over the world – we are thrilled to see such huge crowds show their passion. The first weekend of June, on Saturday, Rare Vintage Air (RVA) VW club hosted the “Rare Vintage Air Volkswagen d’Elegance” at Old World Village, in Huntington Beach, California. Pre-registration sold out…

Bad vibration in the motor I have rescued a ‘67 Bus, from sitting in a cow field for 33 years. I rebuilt the engine to 1700cc (dual port), changed to an alternator and new stand. Since the rebuild, there is a bad vibration in the motor. It seems to be coming from the alternator/ fan area. I changed the alternator, but it didn’t help. Any suggestions? Bad fan/out of balance maybe? Gary Cate, Knoxville, TN In this case, I think you’ve answered the question yourself. All the aftermarket fans I’ve seen in the last couple of years are complete junk. Out of balance, and wobbly. Try to find yourself a genuine used VW fan. They can be spotted by the little bits of metal spot welded between the fins for factory balance! Weber 44s…

One of our favorite shows to attend on our east side of the Motor City has always been MIVE’s Motorstadt, now in its 15th year. Motorstadt offers a chance for both vintage and late model VW and Audi enthusiasts – as well as other Euro cars – to come together as one, giving equal respect to both air- and water-cooled alike. Motorstadt is a celebration of European autos hosted by the Michigan Volkswagen Enthusiasts, or MIVE for short. MIVE is an informal club of water-cooled VW owners bound by an online message board and Facebook page. They organize several barbecues and gatherings throughout the year, and proudly boast of having no membership fees. Being very performance minded, they also attend Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) races and open track days…

In this article, I’m going to talk about what it takes to convert your car from the old 6-volt system to 12 volts. The first thing you need to decide is if you even want to convert. There are major pluses to the 12-volt, but if you’re going for that all stock vibe, then I would leave it 6 volts. I own and have driven the 6-volt cars and there is a certain “feel” you get. Example: one of my cars used to be a 1960 KG. All OE. In the winter time, I would leave work and it was dark outside; so, I’d turn on the headlights. I found that when you rev up the motor, the lights got brighter. It’s winter, so of course it’s raining outside, so…

Stock Bus wheels come in three different rim sizes with a few variations of them in the Split Window and Bay Window eras. This month we will talk about the rims and their evolution of size, shape and color and attachments. Barndoor Buses had 3.5Jx16 rims, which translates to 16 inch diameter rims that were 3.5 inches wide. They were manufactured by either Lemmerz or Kronprinz. According to the service literature and publicity photos, all Barndoor Buses came with chrome hubcaps with the center logos painted to match the lower body color on the Bus. Most period photos exhibit chrome caps, but there are also period pictures showing logo’d Barndoor Buses with painted hubcaps; so, it is possible that primer-delivered Buses came with painted caps. It is also possible that chrome…

As we roll though life and enjoy our passions, we don’t often think about the future. Oh sure, we might be looking forward to the next big VW event or dreaming about completing a project we’ve been working on, but the view ahead is normally a bit short sighted. For those of us with the collecting gene deep within our veins, we jump from event to another on the quest for that rare part or special bit of literature. Guys like me who have minimal internal restraint when it comes to cars eventually find ourselves short on space and long on projects to keep them all running. Of course this is all driven by our passion and there seems to be little joy in tempering that enthusiasm. I often say…