In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :
You're honestly doing the world a great service by helping eradicate the Beetle problem in this way.
In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :
You're honestly doing the world a great service by helping eradicate the Beetle problem in this way.
No, this is not a build. I want it gone.
3 years later he buys another.
Classic AAZCD behavior.
One of my neighbors has had a 1995ish F250 sitting in his driveway for a couple years. I have been wanting to fix it for about as long as it has sat there. He finally asked me to and I'm starting to work on it when I want to ignore my projects. Today I went to Cagle's Salvage & Auto Crusher to find a door and see if there were any good Dung Beetle parts. There weren't any O9G 6-speed auto transmissions, but there was an '01 beetle with a 1.8T that I may raid later if the need arises.
I grabbed a few trinkets that I may or may not use.
I did find a good door for the Doctor's truck and did the basic install this evening.
It's always a fun outing to wander at Cagle's:
In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :
If you find a set of BBS RX2's off a jetta or beetle in that yard can you grab them for me? As long as they're in decent shape?
In reply to docwyte :
Yes, but I didn't see any on that trip. I'll let you know if I see any locally.
captainawesome said:No, this is not a build. I want it gone.
3 years later he buys another.
Classic AAZCD behavior.
A stranger stopped his car in front of my driveway today. He opened the window and said, "Damn, you have a lot of projects." I looked around; 2019 Challenge Boxster was half uncovered with the frunk open, New '02 Beetle was in the middle of the lawn, Kawasaki KLR 650 had the seat off while I charged the battery, A riding lawn mower I just brought home was on a trailer with the rear wheels off and new tires ready to go on, Black Porsche 914 in front of the garage with the rear end lifted, ready to drop the engine, The engine of my (not quite) son in law's Kawasaki XV1600 disassembled on my workbench, and I was in the middle of putting new fuel filters on the BMW R75/7. I said, "Yep, I have the week off."
This evening Mrs AAZCD steered the new blue bug into parking while I pushed with Dung Beetle. It still drives forward pretty well.
That photo from Cagle's of the water cooled Corvair engine is priceless.
Well... it's been too hot to do much Beetle work. That dark blue one will burn your hands in the full sun. Why did I buy it anyway... $400 with a manual transmission... right. Nice blue to match Tow Pig and the '98 Boxster too. It's much better to stay in the shade and wait for a cooler day.
and then this:
It's probably not a Quattro. Juan Carlos edited his ad at least three times to make the English better, but details were difficult to extract in messenger.
I just had a brilliant idea! There's no room for another car at my place. I'll park one at my daughter's house until I do my next scrap run.
Hi, my name is Jon and I'm an addict.
In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :
I don't believe they ever built a Quattro TT convertible, but it's been a few years & my memory generally sucks.
AAZCD (Forum Supporter) said:
Really really really love your wording here. I am going to borrow this because I despise making and receiving offers before seeing something in person, but also want to be clear that I might not be a buyer at full ask. Well done, sir.
When the seller showed me the title and I saw that it was in someone else's name and never transferred, I almost walked. I probably should have. As I was starting to walk away I said, "Since I am here now with the trailer, I'll do $600 for the car and $200 later if you get me a good title. There was some discussion in Spanish and they agreed. As the money came out I agreed to $60 more for now and the remainder with the title. I trust Juan Carlos's intentions, but I'm not sure that he's going to be able to follow through. If I have a parts car for $660, I'm still okay with that, but I would like to do 'something' with it. Maybe a Challenge car if nothing else. After the deal was done he spent the rest of his lunch break helping me load the car on the trailer after my winch battery died. The heat index was over 100 in the full sun.
It is both not as bad as I expected and a little worse than I expected. I got it to crank and it popped a little with some starter fluid. I think the seller was correct that the fuel pump is bad or at least that it is not getting fuel. I pulled the top cover off the timing belt and it looks good. Not brand new, but not original either. The vacuum hoses are a mess some are missing and some are wrong. I actually enjoy solving that type of puzzle and I probably have the hoses and any needed parts in my stash. It will probably need a couple sensors replaced and a good check of the wiring, but overall it looks pretty fixable to me. The ad said that it was missing "turbo connections" and I expected some intercooler and intake plumbing to be missing, but it's all there. Much of the interior is too good for me to rip out, but the seats are in terrible shape. The rear window is busted out and some moisture obviously damaged the seat leather. The interior electronics still seem mostly good; HVAC, windows, lights, and most of the instrument cluster work as they should. OBD2 codes seem to mostly be related to the vacuum hose mess. I'll probably just pull it all off and rebuild the vacuum system.
Comparing it to the New Beetle, it is clearly the same basic MK4 VAG/A4 chassis, but the build quality and materials are a lot better. I would rather have bought a TT Quattro Coupe, but for under $1,000 in today's market, I'm not complaining. I may admit to myself that I have gathered too many project cars again and designate the dark blue bug as a parts car. In other news, The Dung Beetle is getting better. After a drive to the hardware store to pick up some paint, reverse started working again. There's still no AC and I think the radiator fan relay is shot, but ...progress.
I respect your ability to possibly admit to having too many project cars. I refuse to admit that, I just consider myself to not have enough tools, work space, and talent to match my perfectly reasonable number of project cars.
I got the Audi TT running yesterday with the fuel pump out of the dark blue Beetle. It was interesting to note that the pump units look and fit the same, but the TT pump is spec'ed to put out twice the volume of the Beetle pump. Knowing that the engine runs even with most of the vacuum hoses disconnected is a good sign. I just ordered a new pump unit from Rock Auto, but that's all the money I plan to spend on this car until I make some decisions.
Decisions... I'd like to figure out what my goal is, but my thoughts keep running in circles.
That's about what goes through my mind every time I look out at the driveway.
I'm starting seven days of 12 hour day shift today. That will slow me down a bit. Wait a week for any developments on the title, then pick a project to focus on next week.
In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :
Please 20v 1.8T swap the Scirrocco. I don't even care which end of the car you put it in. Or put one in each end :)
Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :
Please 20v 1.8T swap the Scirrocco. I don't even care which end of the car you put it in. Or put one in each end :)
I found some good info on that today: All Things Scirocco
This could be a deep rabbit hole.
You need to do that swap, spend all the time shaking it out, then I'll buy it. LOL
In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :
I saw an amazingly clean Scirocco in a front yard while cutting through a neighborhood the other day. I did a double-take, but sadly/fortunately didn't see a for-sale sign on it. I almost stopped & asked anyway.
This thread is awesome and I definitely sent several photos to my wife and spent the rest of my lunch break googling the gambler 500 and convincing my wife that we need to do that at some point in the future. So now I have you to blame for my desire for a cheap Boxster and to run the gambler 500 haha.
In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :
Put the 2.0 engine you have in the garage into the blue beetle. Put the dung beetle's engine into the scirocco. Prep the Audi for the $2000 challenge and then swap its drivetrain into the dung beetle or the 914 after the event. Preserve the Audi roller for future engine swap shenanigans at which time it could enter the challenge again or other racing events. 
I don't want to start another build thread, so I'll just put this here for now. The seller said she had about 50 responses in the three hours it's been listed, but seems to agree to giving me the first shot at it tonight or tomorrow morning. I'll let you know what happens, she is already getting 'bids' above the asking price, unseen.
Interior is trashed, but I have a few interiors. Needs a key - which means it needs more than just a key. Title may turn into vapor. But I have lots of options and the money is there in parts easily.
The '04 Boxster is terrible. I bought it based on the information they had told me rather than really looking at it. I should not have trusted them.
There was a tornado sky on the way to get it. I should have seen the omen and turned back.
It had sat outside for at least a year with the windows down and a small tarp that only partly covered it. The interior looked worse than the flood car I restored. The body had plenty of minor dents and blemishes. It had settled into the lawn deep enough that I couldn't see under it.
Thunderstorms were rapidly approaching. I just wanted to load it on the trailer and get out of there.
I made it home just ahead of a storm and got a cover over it as the rain grew heavy.
What do I have?
Not so good: A car that they said had under 60k miles on it, but when I powered up the cluster showed 192k miles. A bill of sale and a promised title. No key. A biohazard interior. The bottom of the engine covered with oil. Two tires that don't hold air.
The good: Somehow the immobilizer/central locking module under the seat has stayed dry inside with no corrosion. The top is in decent shape with a good glass window. Most of the electronics work when powered up. Doors and windows work as they should. It has a style of wheels that I haven't owned yet. The engine, transmission and brakes might all be good. One headlight is damaged, but the other will be worth some money after I give it a good polish.
Given the high mileage and the cost in time and money to make it right, I don't plan to make a project out of it. The only thing that makes sense is to part it out and scrap it. I can easily get my money out of it between the 986Forum and eBay, but I really set myself up for failure on this one, trusting the sellers and not looking the car over in detail before handing over the cash.
Wow, just a little difference between 60k miles and 192k! Hard to believe they didn't know that...
Gambler/safari Boxster?
gauravdhaka said:Ohio is not hard to get them rebuilt but it can be very time consuming with appointments 3+ weeks out and inspection sites that can be an hour plus drive.
John Welsh (Moderate Supporter) said:Ohio is not hard to get them rebuilt but it can be very time consuming with appointments 3+ weeks out and inspection sites that can be an hour plus drive.
But, dang, Oklahoma seems easy!
Jealous.
Not judging, but one of you guys is a bot.
The plan is starting to solidify.
Dung Beetle will get the transmission and associated manual bits from the dark blue bug. I don't plan to build the dark blue one. Pull the parts I want, list the husk on Facebook market for a couple hundred, or scrap it. The next Gambler events I plan to do are in October, so there's plenty of time to work out the Bugs.
The Audi TT and the '04 Boxster can sit for a couple weeks to see if titles arrive. I have offered Juan Carlos a nice set of 20" Porsche wheels in exchange for the transferred title and he really wants the wheels. With titles, I'll sort the cars out enough for the street and probably do a cheap flip. Without titles they will be stripped and parted.
The Scirocco will get the TT engine if the title doesn't work out. It will get the 2.0 ABA if the TT keeps its engine.
The only thing holding up progress on my 914 project is getting around to stripping down the engine I pulled and transferring the parts to a rebuilt long block. It doesn't need another engine. For now, working on other cars and motorcycles has been higher priority.
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