Hello,
I’m Matthew Keen and this is my first contribution to 1967beetle.com.
VW Beetles have been a friendly companion throughout my life, starting with my dad’s Black ’67 beetle he bought new from Ashford VW near London in 1967. Since then, I have owned a ’71 1200 Beetle, ’67 Variant (which never got on the road but was pretty mint.. Sigh) and a ’67 beetle that I built as a replica of my fathers car. All of the work on my cars has been done with my own two hands. Welding, respray, and all mechanics (even my HVLP spray system is made from a modified vacuum cleaner motor). I am looking forward to contributing to 1967beetle.com.
Regards,
Matthew J Keen
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Welcome, Matthew. We’re looking FWD to working with you!
So Matthew, does your car have a name?
We could also use a new “puzzler.” Ask us something tricky and watch us make fools of ourselves. Anyway, a big 67 welcome to you!
Hi Mike, yes my car is called Bee I’ve had her since 2004. She started out as a very rusty Lotus White 67, after 4 years of restoration she is now a Jet Black 67.
Ok little quiz question. You find your pride and joy is getting harder and harder to start, on doing some research you find out that your starter bush is worn out. What is the simplest way to replace this?
Matthew,
I’d say cut out a piece of metal in the rear so you could reach that area and easily replace. Probably not the best method, but….
Matthew,
Watch out for Mike, he’s a true ’67 pervert. :)
Looking forward to your articles, Matthew.
Solutions will be non destructive…Eric ! :) normally the way to reach the bush is to take the engine out, but who wants to do that. Hint even VW wanted a simple solution..
Hmmmmm. :-)
Come on you would be Macgyver’s
Right the answer is provided by a diagram from the legendary Moby from VZi (Richard Jeffrey) who sadly is no longer with us, he was a guru of everything VW, in his time he was a VW trained mechanic who later went on to run the Beetle Workshop in Kent England.
So here is the solution.
No problem. Done.
Basically you get under the car and remover the heater hose under the parcel shelf, disconnect the battery under the seat and then remove the starter motor.
Then get comfy under the car (it is vitally important you get comfy as you need you focus on the job at hand in the tight space you are in).
Get a good lamp that illuminates the space that the starter goes into where you will now see the old starter bush in the gearbox.
Right get a rag and stuff it in the viod below where the bush is so if you drop anything it is NOT going to go into the bellhousing .
Now take your m12 “tapered” tap and wind it into the old bush, the bush is phosphor bronze so the tap should bite into the bush with some turning. When the tap is firmly in the old bush get a pair of Mole Grips (self grip wrench to the USA) and pull the tap and bush out.
Get the new bush and soak it in engine oil over night as they will last longer and go in easier.
Get your bolt small enough to fit the bush over with insulation tape as shown in the picture. Again get the light just right to see the hole in the gearbox and push the bush bolt configuration into the hole, have a small hammer to LIGHTLY tap the bush in, do not force it.
Once installed lightly grease bush and reinstall starter wiring, battery and heater hose.
Well done, if you have approached this well you will not feel too bad and not have grazed knuckles.
This would be a great full future article Matthew!
Just so you people over the pond can see the weight of dedication and expertise moby had go to google images and type Moby5153.