Windy City ACVWs

This '77 Riviera was sitting on 6th Street this morning, within sight of two other air-cooleds, a '71 (the blue one here) and an early Vanagon. One wonders what that jug of antifreeze is for.

Big and Little

This is another from last Summer, as I clean out the pictures on my phone.
 It amuses me, for some reason, how most towed camping units can handily dwarf Ludwig.

1971 Super Beetle, $4500

These photos are from early last Summer in Missoula. $4500 seems a little high to me, but what do I know. 

Clutch Cable Replacement

That out-of-focus frayed thing is Ludwig's clutch cable. Here's how you fix that. First, buy a new clutch cable (not pictured).

Disconnect the clutch pedal shaft (left) from the rest of the assembly (right) using a 13mm socket and wrench. Or two 13mm wrenches if you want. Or two sockets. Whatever.

After they come apart they'll look like this.

Now take one of those 13mm sockets or wrenches or whatevers and undo this housing from the frame.

That results in this, which you further reduce...

...to this, by taking off that clevis pin. When you got the new clutch cable, you got a new clevis pin.

Don't use it, because it's probably crap. The one on top is the one I had, stamped VW-Audi. See how that round part is really of two parts, pin and washer? That makes it so the pin can turn. The pin in the new one lacks that virtue and cannot. A perfect example of the death by a thousand cuts we bus owners constantly face (thanks, hippie wannabes).

Attach the new cable to the assembly with the old pin and some grease. Any piece of metal that moves against another piece of metal deserves some grease for its trouble. 

Thread the new cable from the front to the rear, greasing it along its length (not shown; hands too greasy to take pictures). Reattach the housing to the frame and the pedal shaft to the bar from the housing.

Thread the rearward end of the cable out of the way for when you put the engine and transaxle back in. Done.

This was the old cable before I chucked it. It had four strands left.

That was pretty boring so here's a poster I saw on my way to the auto parts store, to liven the mood.

Littermates

Whenever I see a '74, like this '74, I compare VINs to see how close they are to Ludwig.

 I've seen a pretty close one before but unfortunately didn't photograph or write down its VIN.

And once I saw a '74 for sale that was a day older than me.

But this is the closest yet: a mere 3,419 away from Ludwig on the assembly line, to the younger side. (Obscured VIN because who knows why, but people fret about such things.)

Let's do a little math: there were 224,993 buses built between 1 August 1973 and 31 July 1974, for the 1974 model year. Excluding weekends and holidays there were 252 working days during that time, so we can figure they built about 893 buses a day. Meaning this bus is probably about four days younger than Ludwig. It's reasonable then, I think, to suppose that they were acquainted, or were at least within sight of each other, and possibly came over on the same boat, depending on this bus's destination code (Ludwig, a UF, immigrated via San Francisco).

The owner told me he has a friend who'd owned one-off VIN buses. 

ACVWs of Livingston

This one was at Mammoth, actually.

Might not be an AC VW.

Tail Lights Upgrade

Ludwig's been waiting for us to make time for some smaller projects. Now that he isn't a primary residence and shuttling Mitch 260-520 miles per week, we've had more time to give. With the engine out while waiting on a part that's on order (for the upcoming transmission fix) we figured it was a good time. Really, we've expected an extraordinary amount from this old boy this Summer. As any ACVW owner knows these relationships are reciprocal, so I guess now it's our turn.

And Stinkerton no longer just rides.

What doin' Daddy?

I'm workin'.

The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything

Ludwig turned 42 the other day. To honor him, E and I replaced his spark plugs and cleaned up his engine a little bit, out at the storage unit. After a good while E's interest in cleaning waned so I asked her to take as many pictures as she wanted. These are them.

She likes that in Late Bay Bus parlance this piece is referred to as 'the telephone'.

No, I've never read The Guide.