This is my build thread for the replacement of the 'Dung Beetle', my 2000 VW Beetle Gambler 500 build.
I bought the car from a Copart auction last Friday. It's a 2004 VW Beetle Cabriolet with a 1.8L turbo engine and automatic transmission. It may be delivered today or tomorrow. Normally, I'd pick it up from the lot myself, but I'm covering a lot of extra shifts at work lately, so for now, time is more valuable than money. I am excited to get a look at it in person and see what I've bought. From what I can see in the auction listing, it looks like the drivetrain and mechanical condition is good. There is a deep dent on the passenger side and lots of minor cosmetic issues that do not concern me much.
The car was has an Oklahoma Salvage title. In order to register it for street use, I have to document a repair to it and bring it to my local “Tag Agency” (Similar to most states DMV branch offices) for a simple inspection to verify that it has been repaired. Then I will receive a “rebuilt” title. In Oklahoma there is no emissions or safety inspection required to register a car.
My first task will be making the required repairs to it. It may need a new door or I might be able to re-skin the outside. I already have a door available from a hard-top Beetle and will look at possibilities to use that or I may go to my favorite junkyard and pull a door from a similar car. Most of the dents outside the door look like they can be corrected well enough without replacing any parts or metal. Other than that, the mirror glass on the driver's door is cracked and that's an easy fix. I'm not going to modify the car to be a 'Gambler 500' car until after I have the rebuilt title.
I was wondering about the timing belt. All of the 1.8T cars that I see priced under $2,000 are not running due to a “Slipped” timing belt or the engine is disassembled and they're not sure what's wrong. I was relieved to see the info for the timing belt service when I zoomed in on the picture from the auction. It was replaced in 2017 at 99,600 miles and there are 110,792 miles on the car now. It should be good for the next few years ...or as long as I intend to use the car.
The next local Gambler is only a week away and there's no way I can attend. That gives me until next Spring to have the car ready. My plan is to lift it and modify as needed to fit the 235/75-15 tires from the Dung Beetle on it. It will need a skid plate and brush guard and I'm planning to mount a cheap HF winch. The front will probably need to be modified to raise the radiator and intercooler higher for protection. Snorkel and deep water preparation will be done. Maybe some sort of roof luggage rack and rollbar after I see how the top folds.
That's the plan. I'll update after I see the car and check it out in person.
A new beatle 'vert should make a delightful gambler rig. Do you go all out with costumes and stuff too?
Do you have to even repair it? If it's cosmetic as long as the car is still functioning Ohio doesn't even care and you could literally drive it in and get a rebuilt title as it sits.
I went thru the rebuilt title process, and afterward I started to wonder... A car like this one, it is totaled, due to the cost of repair, maybe not because of safety issue. So does it really need cosmetic repair prior to the rebuilt title inspection? If you can show that it is safe to use, with the cosmetic damage? I have not tried to do that, but for some of these, seems like maybe it could be done, of course insurance might be a issue.
thatsnowinnebago (Forum Supporter) said:
A new beatle 'vert should make a delightful gambler rig. Do you go all out with costumes and stuff too?
We didn't do costumes last year, but next year Mrs AAZCD will probably pick a theme and we will.
In reply to TED_fiestaHP :
The last Salvage title car I did was very easy, but they did want me to show them a copy of receipts or a physical repair to the car. It may be pretty subjective locally. My local Tag Agency knows me pretty well at this point and I like to keep it easy for them and they seem to reciprocate.
Patrick (Forum Supporter) said:
Do you have to even repair it? If it's cosmetic as long as the car is still functioning Ohio doesn't even care and you could literally drive it in and get a rebuilt title as it sits.
I was coming in to write the same thing. I have taken about 6 cars through the Ohio Rebuild process with no repairs and therefore no receipts for repairs.
As long as no sharp edges that could hurts someone (like blatantly sharp) that car would pass Ohio. It is required that the door opens and shuts but some rubbing while opening would be acceptable.
Samples: The light green got no repairs and the dark green got a headlight, leaving the fender wrinkled. I brought a receipt for the headlight but Ohio considers it too small of a part so I did not actually need a receipt for the headlight.
This Mercury Milan required no receipts either. The car had been torn down to write the estimate and when the math worked out to heavy, rather than reinstall parts, all the parts were put in the trunk. All I had to do was re-assemble. Only thing needed was $9 in JY bolts since I had all the parts but none of the fasteners.
In reply to John Welsh (Moderate Supporter) :
Oklahoma used to be like that. I could take a car that was 10 years or older in ANY condition and get a rebuilt title - blown airbags and a missing headlight? ...no problem. A couple years ago it changed, now they want supporting documentation, but they have been very flexible.
My co-worker called 15 minutes ago. His fever came back and I'm going to cover his shift tomorrow. The transport driver just called. He left the Copart lot a few minutes ago and will get to my house about the same time I get home from work this evening. It will be dark when it gets there and still dark when I go to work in the morning, but Awesome that I get to check it out tonight.
In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :
Awesome that you'll post pics (even if crappy) tonight!
It's gonna need a little work. It's terrible. and perfect.
Here's many crappy pictures. (Just for John)
I drove it to the garage door and parked it as it ran out of gas. Really, the needle bumps a tiny bit, then 0/0, but it did restart.
Windows don't move, but glass seems intact. I think I can just pull that dent out.
Windshield is cracked.
Fluid levels all look good. All the exhaust sound comes loudly out the back of the engine. Turbo manifold? I'll look later. Battery dated 2019.
Interior door panels are typical (trash) for a New Beetle. Dung Beetle has the fix for that AND the conversion to manual hand crank windows which I love. It will transfer.
and it has a light aluminum skid plate. Kinda cute, but I'm going to have to make it stronger.,
I have an early morning tomorrow. Good night. Maybe video and words tomorrow if work is slow.
Cool. It looks like the right amount of dung.
Good morning. First note: I had planned to do early voting last week, but ended up covering for a sick pilot (mild COVID) on all the early voting days. I was expecting to be off today until last night. I came into work this morning and found that our nurse was sick (non-COVID) and his replacement won't be in until 9 am (We work as a crew of nurse, paramedic, and pilot for an EMS helicopter). So now I'm 'on duty', but out of service until the nurse arrives. I went to my polling place and voted. Yay.
Last night before I went to bed I poked my camera behind the engine and found out why all the noise when the engine is running. The turbo is loose:
I'm not sure why it would be that way. Hopefully the turbocharger is in decent shape and tightening the bolts will clear things up.
I'm expecting to work 7 am to 7 pm until next Wednesday, but when I get a chance, that is the first thing I plan to fix.
Edit: I did a little reading and it turns out that it is fairly common for these bolts to come loose. High temp loctite works as a solution.
In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :
I had to have receipts to show state tax paid, if no proof of state tax on the parts, then state tax was part of the process, they seemed more concerned about that than anything else. I only did this once, but now wonder if the damage is just cosmetic does it really have to be repaired, mine was mostly cosmetic, but the power steering fluid did leak out, so that had to be repaired.
The beetle is easy to total, to properly replace either bumper cover, must remove the fenders and reinstall bumper cover attached to the fenders, far to much labor.
At least if the bolts are working their way out they shouldn't be seized
Last night I tightened up the three bolts that hold the turbocharger on. Two were completely backed out and the third was barely holding. I put a jack under the exhaust to raise it into position and it went very easily other than not being able to see any of it on the back side of the engine below the windshield cowl. Pictured by holding the camera on the firewall and pointing it in the general direction:
I didn't Loctite the bolts and expect that I'm going to go back in and do it better later. For now I just wanted to see how much things improved with it tightened up. The ECU had eight malfunction codes (17705 16518 16683 18702 17608 16711 16825 16622) yesterday and they are all cleared now.
Tonight I plan to spend a little time on the door and windows.
Late to the party.... what happened to the original DB??
In reply to jfryjfry (Forum Supporter) :
Lots of little problems becoming bigger and finally the rear main seal on the engine leaking enough oil to leave a puddle anywhere I stop. I thought about it for a while and decided I'm not going back in there. For the hours of 'hard labor' needed to fix it, I'd rather do the fun stuff on another car.
We are short staffed enough at work that today and tomorrow we are doing 12 hours of operation instead of our normal 24. That means that I work today and have a day off tomorrow - first free day in a long time. Those of us who are not sick or already tested positive, got a rapid test today. I was negative. I was kind of hoping to be asymptomatic positive for the two weeks paid vacation, but negative is fine too I suppose.
I plan to work on the car enough tomorrow to have it ready to title and register, other than replacing the windshield. I'm calling the glass shop today to make an appointment for next week to get windshields for this and one of my Porsche 914s.
It's been busy. I called the glass shop in between flights to make an appointment for next week. The Beetle shouldn't be bad, but he said it might take a while to get glass for the 914.
The view from the hospital is nice this time of year.
I'm really looking forward to a day off.
This morning I discussed the doors with Mrs AAZCD. I think that we are going to take the doors from the Dung Beetle and put them on this car.
The world says, “That won't work; this car is a convertible.”
Me, “I don't care.”
Yesterday I pulled the dents in the passenger door out enough that it is generally in the original shape, but still 'a bit wrinkled'.
I flattened out the bent window regulator to where it moved smoothly.
I even repaired the passenger side door panel with some JB Weld. These Beetle door panels are made from a special biodegradable plastic. They lasted about 10 years, at best, before they started disintegrating. The repaired panel cracked in new places as I put it back on the door. Expected, but still disappointing.
Reassembled, I tested the windows and none of them worked. Pulling things apart revealed that the passenger side window motor is bad and both rear window regulators are bad. The rear windows have obviously had repairs done in the past. An odd mix of bolts had been used for reassembly at one point and some parts had simply, not been put back together.
I made some adjustments with a pry-bar and channel locks to jam both rear windows in the up position. I got the driver's side window to work. The passenger side window now has glass from a non-convertible car. It is set all the way up and almost fits. Dung Beetle has hand crank windows that work great, but the interior of the door is different from the '04 convertible. I can't just swap out the guts.
I'm going to pull the doors from Dung Beetle and put them on this car. The world says, “That won't work; this car is a convertible.”
Me, “I don't care.”
These New Beetles are terrible cars. The best tools to fix them with are a hammer and Sawzall. That 'repair' will probably begin next weekend.
I was wrong. They didn't even look at the car or ask to see any paperwork regarding repairs. I think the one that they needed to see stuff was for an out of state salvage title or a newer car. It is now insured and street legal.
While waiting about an hour at the socially distanced Tag Agency, one guy ahead of me thought he might get by with suspended insurance. An hour in line just to be told, "No, you can not renew your tag. ...Next."
Later a kid made it to the front of the line to get a driver's license. "You're not in the computer, did they give you a piece of paper after the test?"
"Ummm, no?"
"Did you pass the driver's test?"
"Uhh, I'm not sure?"
The clerk made a phone call. ..."You can make an appointment to take the test again Tuesday next week. ...Next."
I didn't even need to bring the car there. Just proof of insurance and a check for $130. Boom, street legal and a 'Rebuilt' title in Ok.
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.
Whenever I HAVE to wait in line at one of those places I always wonder how many people are there with things they could do online in 5 minutes or will get to the front and be turned away because they are missing something, glad it worked out for you.
