changing vw belt

[Seanaldinho]

Ive seen a few with chevys in the front. Ive judged the Pasco County Bug Jam several times each show had over 500 cars

[CAP1]

I might have seen that at Englishtown or Atco.  Can't remember...

 i saw it down at acto. didn't see it too often though. it looked VERY squirlly to drive.

[Tigger29]

Many newer cars these days require the engine to be dropped out of the car.  I remember the first time I had to drop the subframe from a Windstar to replace the engine!  Undo the wiring, the lines/hoses and the axles.  Then lower the subframe onto four jackstands.  Then remove four bolts.  Then lift the rest of the vehicle up and away.  Now you have the entire drivetrain right in front of you to work on!  It was so different yet so.. convenient!

The next one I did was a Cadillac.  Over $1000 to reseal the engine with RTV Silicone!  I was a little worried reusing the bearing races but I was told it would be OK and it was!  Had to drop the whole subframe and remove the engine.  Then install it on a stand and flip it upside down.  Then start tearing stuff apart!  I turned out real nice though.

It's funny though because I drive an '89 Festiva.  My dad has terminal cancer and just finished a chemotherapy session.  I was going to pick him up but my uncle (his brother) insisted on doing so because I "didn't have heat in my car" and my dad is very sensitive to cold temperatures (side effect of the chemo).  I was talking to my uncle on the phone and actually getting into an argument over why he thinks I have no heat in my car.  Come to find out he used to own an old Bug and just assumed that since I drove a little car that my heat would work no better than his used to!  Despite me trying to get him to understand that the reason the heat didn't work well in his old VW was because it was an air cooled engine I still couldn't convince him that my heater worked just fine and I ended up caving and letting him pick up my dad.

It was an interesting conversation nonetheless.

[CAP1]

i farm those engine jobs out if i get them now.

[Tigger29]

i farm those engine jobs out if i get them now.

Definitely.. It's just not worth it anymore.  There's too much liability and dog forbid if you have to tear it all back again under warranty then you just lost money on the whole deal.  Although there are always a few exceptions - really good customers who want to save a few bucks by agreeing to a used unit or a no-warranty type of repair for something in between jobs.  That I have no problem with - as long as they sign a waiver from the get go.

These days with everyone's "disposable" mentality they are real quick to just trade a car in the second it needs even a few hundred bucks worth of repairs.  I had one customer with an '05 F150 that had been a great truck for him for 80,000 miles go and trade it in because it needed $1000 worth of brake work.  Funny thing is that the new '10 he traded it in for spent four of its first six weeks at the dealer for various issues!

[Nypsy]

I hate having my fingers any where near a moving belt. I have seen a few mangled fingers, not mine thankfully.

[CAP1]

i've never done a belt that way.....but my new favorite thing to bi tch about engineers about, is the "stretch to fit" belts. i'd REALLY like to inflict some bodily harm, and permanent scars on the clown that came up with that.

[DREDIOCK]

The new bug holds nothing on the old bug.

They sure seemed to be popular for awhile.

I dont even consider the new bug to be a bug.
Kinda looks the same.  but thats where the similarity ends. The two most notable features of the bug are missing.
The sound. And the smell.
Bugs always had a specific smell to them. you could stick me in one blindfolded with the engine off and with the first sniff I would know exactly what I was in.

And I know with the old ones you could beat the crap out of them and not kill em. Doubt The new one could suvive the kind of punishment the old ones used to get

[CAP1]

but the new one has an optional daisy on the dash. 

[FLOTSOM]

but the new one has an optional daisy on the dash. 

and in the drivers seat!!!!!  (dont run fast cap im slow and lazy!) 

i have seen this trick done on a chevy big block that was being used to power a generator. it had an electric fan bolted to a huge radiator mounted on the side not the front so the water pump pulley was fully exposed. it didnt have a tensioner so the belt had to be tight fitted without assistance, just like the vw belt. so the guy just used the same trick to fix. scarey as hell to think of what would happen if the screw driver was thrown back instead of pulled under...........

have also done similar to take belts of various other motors, but that was always the turn the motor by hand method or disable ignition and bump the motor over, never while it was running under its own power.

[Seanaldinho]

Saw a volkswagon Sand Rail with a Corvette V8 in it 

[sluggish]

Having trouble understanding... How does a vw sandrail have a Corvette engine in it?

[Seanaldinho]

It was a volkswagon frame that had a VW engine it but the owner took it outand put the V8 in sideways and taking off all the mounting brackets and making his own. Then it was fed through a tranny to the rear wheels.

[Zeagle]

I spent the summer after HS graduation traveling across Arizona in a VW microbus. Yes, we dropped the motor out to work on it. Yes it got push started a lot.
But, it went everywhere. Good stuff.

Awesome video.

[ariansworld]

This is the New Beetle, I have not seen one with a daisy holder in it yet.