1967 VW Variant.

Snotaul Goodman wrote: »

Rear lights don't seem to be working. Instant NCT fail :pac::P

We got a 53 yearold non runner driving in a day or two.

how long do you think the brake lights will take:P:P:P:P:P:P

Sam Russell wrote: »

The last 6v Beetle was 1972, but they started with 12 v about 1966. The 12 v Beetle had the larger rear lights which was from 1972.

Now I may be wrong, but I cannot find definite info.

They rolled out 12v in 66-67. But there was a reluctance from dealers that had large stocks of 6v parts apparently to switch straight away.
they
I believe in europe they kept using 6v until 72.
I've owned and driven many vw 's. Beetles and variants and fastbacks from
1963 all the way up to 76. And the only 6v I recall were
63 beetle, 65 Fastback, 55 oval, and burnt out the harness of a 67 1300 12 v beetle
when I let a spanner fall across the fusebox at lunchtime at work, and never spotted it until 5.30 that evening.

But myself John and my dad stripped the harness from another beetle, and re wired it

Sam Russell wrote: »

It is just I remember being told that the Beetle 1300 (it might have been the 1302) with the big rear lights was the first major redesign of the Beetle that introduced 12 volts. I think disc brakes may have featured as well.

Now other models like the Variant might have had 12 volts much sooner.

Good luck, and watch your spanners - 12 volts will fry the harness quicker than 6 volts.

I think you have done an incredible job to get as far as you have in such a short time. The bodge on the carburettor was a probable cause of it being parked up.

I wouldn't call the attempt at a fix on the carb as a bodge. Whoever did it had noticed a flooding issue on the carb. And he tried to raise the float arm to hit the needle valve to shut off earlier. He diagnosed the issue and a possible fix. Fair dues on an unknown VW engine design relative to beetles at the time.

THis would have worked no problem, but where he slipped up was not fitting the spring clip on the float arm. This allowed the back end of the float to rise up. If the clip was fitted, then there would be no flooding, and I would not have stripped it.

And in fairness to the chap that maintained this car, I suspect alfa's dad, every nut I have removed, bar none has been correctly tightened, and not a single overtightened one among them all so far.
This tells me that the mechanic did not have to rely on brute force just in case. he was confident with mechanics I'd say.:)

Its a far cry from" give it a bit more just to be sure":D:D

John.G wrote: »

Another nice source of a beetle fire was to forget to replace the battery + terminal plastic protector then seat a few hefty people in the back so as that the seat springs contacted the terminal, first direct seat heating by VW!.

True. Its very rare that the plastic battery cover survives, but in this Variants case its there and like new. So there will be no fried arses in the making of these videos:D

I spotted something strange on the variant that I have never seen on any other Vw
we had.

Its at the base of the A post on both doors. I thought at first it was something to do with
door alignment or sagging. Then I thought maybe a contact for an alarm.

Its very solid and not flexible or spring loaded . So i am lost on this at the moment.





It definitely appears to be a VW fitment and not an add on.
I must check out options
on vehicles.

Snotaul Goodman wrote: »

Interior light cluster switches maybe? Did that car even have them? Its 22 years older than me BTW :pac:

I thought that too, but its too late to go check.

I will investigate tomorrow

I am 12 years older than this car:D

I will shortly need a resto:D:D

SmartinMartin wrote: »

Here's one for you to do next weekend.

https://www.donedeal.ie/vintagecars-for-sale/vw-trekker/25566244

If i brought that home now, I would need a major resto for sure.

Her indoors thinks I have a major problem with old volks. She say I am running a rescue centre for old volkswagens.

But its a mind over matter thing.

I dont mind what she thinks coz it dont matter.:D:D:D

I just found out what the levers are.
They are connected to the front seats apparently.
When the doors are opened the front seats can flip forward for rear seat access.

When the doors are closed, the front seat backs are locked in an upright position

Well you definitely have plenty of sound on the video, because the exhaust has numerous splits in it.

I might weld it, or fit a New Old Stock exhaust that I have, 2 really.

But thats another days work.

There you go, same as this one, but the opposite side, they are not handed.

Well a few more surprises today.

I decided to get the seats ou, remove the carpet and check the floor pan edges.
This is where type 3's rust primarily, at the floor pan edge where
it attaches to the heater channels.
Pictures of which I will put in a later post.

Surprise number 1 was that the carpet had velcro attachments:eek:
I did not think velcro was invented back then.




Surprise number 2 was the condition of the seat bases.
I think immaculate says it best. This is the drivers seat, which normally suffers most. Its metalwork is undamaged and intact.



Surprise number 3 the floor pan insulation is immaculate also. Its normally broken due to brittleness, missing, or otherwise loose from the pan.
Its 100% perfect and well attached. With even manufacturers details still attached.




More surprises to follow, stay tuned:)

BbSean wrote: »

Velcro was widely used on the Apollo 1 mission and was a contribution to fierce fire that killed the crew it helped spread the fire as it was highly flammable.

It was invented in the 1940’s or at least developed then.

This is about the only thing that I can contribute to this thread.

Impressive work to date!

Watching the video of you driving it out of the garage and giving the double thumbs up brought a smile to my face.

And thanks for keeping me sane in the past two weeks of quarantine 😁

Thanks for that snippet:)

I,ll keep a good eye on that when I reach Mach 10 on takeoff:D

Brilliant thats the one:)