Yeah I'm not sold.
Firstly, she likes to leak....alot! There hasn't been a week where there isn't something dripping out.
Secondly, she doesn't like the highway, 130 km/h its maxed out, and running for a couple hours like that and she'll chew up a liter of oil.
And then axles, they are not very strong. Once they start clicking they'll be junk within a couple weeks of normal driving. I used to run mk2s for MONTHS before I got around to changing a clicking CV. I attribute that to their inner CV design. It starts clunking and won't shut up. The VWs inner CVs are much stronger and I never had an issue with those. (only the outers)
So, there won't be anything other than service for this vehicle. I won't be doing the subframe or anything big, I'll just fix things until an upset limit is reached. Once the tires are worn, she gets parted out and scrapped.
I'm also not sold on the CVT. The shiftpoints were designed by a committee of 5 year olds, shifting at ridiculous times. On the highway, I usually slap it into manual 6 'gear' but that goes flat on the smallest of hills. It really is terrible, I don't know how so many people defend these transmissions. And then the CVT fluid, WOW, it costs $33 per liter and you need at least 8L for a flush, or 12L for a full dump and refill. Like pouring fine wine in there! I did the flush once, and will never do it again for this car.
I thought I could use the engine in the Outback for a possible swap candidate for the Bug, but no. I won't jump thru engine swap engineering hoops to put such an uninspiring engine in the bug. Yes it would make the Bug boogie down the road, but winding out at 4500 rpm and 1/2L per hour of oil consumptions? No thanks.
I do like the SUV aspect though, it might be difficult to go back to cars like the Jetta and Accord. The cavernous trunk, and high trunk floor are hard to ignore. Heiser loves the back area where he can both walk around and lie down.
On the VW front; I had a good discussion with a VW guru with respect to the Bug, and we'll put a sump filter in and regulate the amounts of babbit in the oil. hopefully it will clear and we can get past this. Otherwise the engine will have to come back apart.
The Jetta; I will have to get it more weatherproofed, bodywork and paint. I'm running out of time here, I have to sh^t or get off the pot. The garage is not moisture free and she needs a coat of paint. She runs, but I need to get Chris at Autobahn to tweak the CIS so I can run it without lambda, he's done it before so hopefully he can do it again. She really is close I just need to focus on her for a solid month.
I've also been seeing guys on YouTube use handheld electric spray guns for car painting with pretty good results. Canadians "Rusted Rides" and "Paintucation by Kevin Tetz" both used those guns with amazing results. Even using Tremclad! Time to get off my ass.
