The history:
Saw her for sale, took the wife and looked at her and said for the money, it might be a good deal. Come to find out, we know the PO as we went to church with him and his family. He says, "All you need is a battery." So I go to Walmart and get a new battery for $40. Car doesn't start. Come to find out, both idle screws on the carb are turned all the way in. I get her running, but she would die once warm. I met Kevin "Gekko" Adams and went to his shop night and realized that the engine had not been rebuilt, even though the PO said it had been.

So Kevin and I rebuilt the engine. While the engine was out, I found rust in the rear luggage area. The PO said there was no rust on the car at all. So that piece of metal had to be replaced. The engine is rebuilt and the metal is all new. The last thing to be able to drive her daily is hooking up the lights. None were hooked up when I bought her.

I am close to getting her ready, but the work is not over yet. I have to do a bonded title because the PO sold me and "open" title with a lien listed on it from a bank that no longer exists. If I see the PO again, I think one of us will be in trouble...

Here are some of the pics I have taken since I bought her. My wife is a photographer and as soon as the Bug is legal and reliable, we are doing a little photo session...

Engine teardown:


Cracked head:


Engine rebuilt:


Old rear luggage shelf:


Cutting out old metal:




(cannot find the pics of the new shelf!)

and how she is now...


More to come!

Looks good. Sorry to hear about all the problems. While you had the engine shelf cut out, you should have done a 2" tranny raise Looks good. Keep it up.

yep its a bummer when people tell you one thing and when you tear it apart its another. great build though! motor looks sweet!

that's a nice little car you have.

that IS the one that was on north park for sale!!!!

Yes, and I saw the PO the other day in the new Chuy's. It was difficult not to set aside my Christian ways and punch him in the head.

The latest, a broken driver's side spindle. Hopefully that will be fixed by this coming Sunday night...

yea I seen they built one over there looked pretty crowded when I drove by last week. how was the food?

Chuy's was good. My wife was not too impressed though. I think it was because she was not feeling well.

My wife and I were there the 1st week they opened. We had to send back her quesadillas because there was hardly any cheese in them. I had a big burrito and was dissapointed. I will say that our first visit will probably be our last. There are too many other good Mexican restuarants on the north side of town (a really good one we found up in Splendora) to have to wait in line for mediocre food at best.

### Update ###

Well after a few more months and more stupid problems, It looks like she is about ready for inspection. I have replaced almost every electrical switch I can replace. The bummer was that the first replacement turn signal kept grounding out on the steering wheel shaft. So I have another and she seems ready to go. I drove her around my neighborhood for about 40 minutes last Saturday, with no issues.

Ben, is the offer to go and meet Tim still good? I should be ready to go by this weekend...

More Pics coming soon...

-Ron