Bug Pictures

This car makes me smile every time I look at it!
Name another car that gives you that feeling.

Engine teardown

Well out came the engine and it was time to tear it down. I sat on one side, Panayiotis sat on the other side of the cylinders and we started taking the exhaust out. Out came the generator and the cooling tin. We took the cylinder heads off and started laughing. Well what had happened was that the camshaft had broken and one of the pistons was pounding away on the exhaust valve! The piston broke, so did a part of the cylinder barrel .. NICE!. Well from all that pounding the head of the valve broke off and went into the crankase.. (game over). I split the case just to take some good pictures...

The backround of my Bug

The previous owner of this Beetle Mr Andreas bought this Beetle brand new back in 1971 from Thessaloniki. He moved to Athens where he used the Beetle for his weekend trips and the summer vacations.! Before we made the deal he told me that the Beetle did not run. He told me that the last time it run was August 08, and that while he was driving he heard a noise from the engine. He immediately stopped to check it out but the Beetle never started again.
I towed the Beetle to my Garage and last week I started tearing it down. A quick diagnosis showed that the valve train of the two rear opposing cylinders did not move at all while trying to start it. ! That wasn't good :). With the help of my friend and coworker Panayioti which he also shares the same "bug" for beetles we took the rear fenders off, the engine lid and we put the car on stands so we could take the engine out.

The begining

About a month ago I came across a beetle that was for sale. I have been looking for a Beetle project for a while but even here in Greece rust free Beetles are hard to find. The Beetle had one owner since 1971 and the odo registered 79000 km. I thought this could not be true. More like 790000km I told the owner but he urged me to come and inspect it. One afternoon after work I went over where the Beetle was parked since this August to examine the Beetle condition. Well I was happily surprised and I closed up the deal right away. I took a quick look at the heater channels and the floors and it all seemed rust free!. The doors did not hang at all and the overall condition confirmed the 79000km.