Not Hot Enough

It's been a while since my last update. This is partly down to my laziness but mainly down to my lack of progress. Since I last posted I have spent only three hours or so on the Beetle. In those three hours I decided to use some heat to free the problematic hub. I pulled on my leather gauntlets grabbed the fire extinguisher and gas blow torch and headed to the garage. I heated the drum to the point where everything was smoking in quite an impressive way and then cranked up the pressure on the puller. Amazingly there was still no movement! I think the problem is that the Beetle drum is a bit too industrial for my blow torch and it's managing to dissipate the heat faster than I can apply it. I'm going to try again with two blow torches. If that doesn't work then it's time to dig out the grinder...

Holding Pattern...

I haven't managed to make much progress in the last few weeks. This is mainly because all the other parts of my life have been screaming for attention. As such I have worked about 2 hours on the Beetle since my last posting.

The new puller is much better quality and has, so far, resisted all my attempts to break it.

Unfortunately the hub has also resisted all my attempts to shift it. Even with the puller up as tight as I can go with an enormous breaker bar. Therefore before resorting to using heat I decided to try and make the puller's life easier.

The first task was to free the brake cylinder from the back plate so it can easily be drawn forward with the drum (when it eventually moves).

I've started the arduous second task, which is cutting the seized adjuster bolts in half. This is much harder than it sounds because I'm having to use a hand held mini hacksaw blade and work through a hole about the size of a two pence piece.

In the mean time the axle tube oil boots have decided to give up the ghost. I think the fact that they're sitting at their most extreme angle for the first time in nearly thirty years was too much for them. For now I've just added them to my todo list and left them to drip.

eCommerce, what's that?

Finding a more robust hub puller that won't break the bank turned out to be more of a challenge than expected. I found one that looked like it fitted the bill but some of the critical dimensions were missing from the catalogue. So I shot off a quick e-mail to the manufacturer. The next day they kindly sent me a jpeg of the hub puller blue prints. When I checked all the dimensions it definitely fitted the bill so I decided to buy one.

I expected making the purchase to be the simplest step - but I was wrong. I couldn't find anyone online that sold it. I hoped the manufacturer would sell to me direct, but they would only sell through their resellers. I was supplied with a short list of motor factors in the area.

On calling the nearest I was informed that they didn't have the item in stock but they could order it in for me. "How much will it cost?", I enquired. "I don't know but I'll give you the sales rep's mobile number".

The rep was very helpful. He didn't know how much the puller cost either, but he said he'd call me back after he'd phoned the manufacturer to find out. Ten minutes later he called back to tell me the price and said he could have one at my local motor factor in a week.

To summarise this purchase required me to write one e-mail and make three phone calls. Then the sales rep had to make at least two phone calls. And after all that I still have to get in my car next week to go and buy it! The shopping experience doesn't hold up well when compared to Amazon.

The First Setback

The second rear drum was not as easy to shift as the first. It had been liberally sprayed with penetrating oil, hit with a soft faced hammer and pried with a screw driver - all to no effect. The first drum had at least showed a tiny bit of movement when it received the same treatment.

I didn't worry as I assumed it should pose no problem to my new puller. I tightened up the screw. Nothing. So I tightened it a bit more. Still nothing. Eventually it was too tight to continue so I attached a short extension and continued to tighten. In between these bouts of tightening I tapped the drum in various places to offer some encouragement. The notable lack of movement continued. However the next turn of the handle didn't seem to require much force and when I looked I could see the puller had bent. Closer examination showed it had actually snapped:

I didn't see any point in continuing with this particular job so I sprayed more penetrating oil into the drum, onto the spark plugs and called it a day. It was lovely and sunny and I'd remembered to buy some whisky so I wasn't too disappointed.

The First Rear Drum is Off!

The first tiny bit of progress has been made. With the aid of the puller (and the longer bolts) I was able to remove the first brake drum. As expected the shoes, brake cylinder etc were written off in the process. No loss though as I'm renewing all these parts anyway. The drum itself doesn't look too bad so I might re-use it (after a thorough clean). Here's a picture of the backplate:

The dampness under the oil seal suggests it's been leaking. I'll pop a new one in before rebuilding the brakes. Next task is to do the same to the other drum. It seems to be putting up more of a fight.

The First Spares Arrive

The first batch of spare parts arrived today. The most important being a couple of 50mm M14x1.5 bolts (one of which is pictured below with an original wheel bolt) to attach the hub puller to the rear drums. This should allow me to free off and then repair the rear brakes - the first step to getting the car rolling again.

In addition to these lovely shiny bolts I also received a couple of rocker covers, gaskets and clips.

I decided these were needed when I saw the state of the originals - I suspect they may just crumble when I attempt to remove them. And remove them I must as checking and oiling the valve gear seems like a good idea after 26 years of idleness (the valve gear, not me). I'll not get round to this particular job until after I've managed to remove the spark plugs and injected some oil into the cylinders, but they do say that, "fortune favours the prepared".

Pulling Problems

The new puller is perfect for the job. However the beetle's wheel bolts are far too short to secure it to the drum - wish I'd checked that earlier. Attempts to shift the drum without the puller were unsuccessful. So tomorrow I'm off to the shops to get a couple of longer M14x1.5 bolts (at least 40mm I think). Here's the offending drum:

The Beginning

Four years ago I sold my Westfield SE. As my thirteen years of ownership had progressed I'd spent less time driving and more time tweaking. After four years of cold turkey I realised that the desire to tinker with cars wasn't going to go away - I needed a fix.

Luckily my neighbour had an old VW Beetle in his garage. Built in 1968 and parked in 1984. It hadn't moved since.

The initial inspection was promising. Bodily the car seemed quite sound (better than expected). The interior was dirty but didn't smell musty (a few too many spiders for my liking though). The engine looked not bad - well it had oil in it. I decided to go ahead with the purchase...

Today I did my first few hours of labour. I decided the first task should be to get the bug rolling. Given that she has been stationary for 26 years it's not going to be a simple case of letting off the handbrake and giving her a wee dunt.

As she was sitting on her rims I decided to see if the tyres would hold air. Amazingly they did. Not only that, after filling them with air they didn't explode.

Next was freeing up the rear wheels. Removing the rubber plugs from the backplate revealed a rusted mess. Enough rust for a small rust avalanche. No luck backing off the brake shoes then.

Over the previous days I'd been spraying the hub nut and wheel bolts with WD40. This had paid off as they all came off quite easily (kneel before my four foot lever) and I hadn't given myself a hernia. I thought the massive torque applied might have broken the drum from the shoes but no such luck.

The hub puller I'd ordered turned out to be a few millimetres too small. I tried a few minutes with a soft faced hammer but each hit only resulted in a small rust shower. I dropped the car and decided to try again later - when in possession of "the right tool for the job".

I turned my attention to the engine. "Will it turn?", I wondered. A few seconds with a spanner on the dynamo showed it wouldn't. Spraying some light oil into the cylinders would probably be a good idea (though not as effective in a flat four as with other configurations I'd imagine). Therefore I turned my attention to the spark plugs. But they didn't oblige by turning to my attention.  After liberally spraying the plugs with WD40 I headed home for a glass of wine. I actually fancied a whisky, but am currently without. Another item for my to-do list.