No, this is not a build. I want it gone.

To the Roof!

Of course maschinenbau was right. Anything short of the roofline is a compromise and the Dung Beetle is NOT about compromise.

It wasn't easy. The one pictured earlier was carefully set together and balanced for the picture. It was not 'real'. It didn't seem right to go out and buy more materials. I have a shed and garage full of parts, but to get the right bends and diameters matched up in a way that would allow the hood to open, be sturdy, and not compromise performance was a challenge. Porsche 986 intake, Honda B20, eBay Cold Air intake... it all started coming together, but I needed one more Lego to make the last part fit. A short cylinder with about a 2-1/2" diameter. Not in the garage, but in the kitchen - a bargain brand chicken noodle soup can. Perfect fit.

Gentlemen, I think my work here is done.

Perfect!

That giant sheetmetal "hose clamp" bolted to the A-pillar is just brilliant.

I think you need to dress up like your favorite Gwar character when driving this around town. Oderus would be my pick.

I'm glad to see the chicken soup label still intact

AAZCD wrote:  a bargain brand chicken noodle soup can. Perfect fit.

... in so many ways.

Driveable art! The sum is truly greater than its parts. 

Loving it all !

I still think a recovery winch will fit great on the lip of the bumper/skid plate. 

While I’m sure that there are many different aspects to what constitutes “favorite” I bet this car that you wanted gone (refer to thread title) is now a favorite.   It is for me!

In reply to jfryjfry :

Yes, "favorite" is a difficult word. The biggest 'problem' I've had with this car is that I enjoy working on it so much that I neglect other things that also need to be done. The creative destruction that goes into a project like this is great for my mind. It's been fun to work on and a blast to drive, but I could still see myself happily flicking a lighter and tossing it in the wreckage if it rolled again; It IS a VW New Beetle still.

Do I "want it gone?" No. I'm happy with it's state for the Gambler 500 Kansas Rally, but I think that there's still a lot left to do before I am done with this car. That said, I feel like when I am finished working on it, I will want to let it go.

In reply to John Welsh :

Every time I walk down the 'winch aisle' I look them over and consider it. My trailer winch is a little too big and heavy, but one of those 2k - 2.5k winches would probably do the job. Maybe in the near future, but not quite yet.

For a winch, ATV winchs seem to be the ticket on small cars. 

Professor_Brap said:

For a winch, ATV winchs seem to be the ticket on small cars. 

Handcrank boat winch would be a more fitting flavor.

Harbor Freight 2500-lb winch is $49.99 with coupon, probably a little small for the Beetle but would probably work good enough. Grab a snatch block and use a double line pull if needed.

The Gambler 500 Kansas Rally is this weekend. As a "Gambler" the car is ready, but for a normal weekend-long drive, it's still pretty sketchy. It's a 3-1/2 hour drive to the location, so we will be trailering the Dung Beetle there with Pepper. That way, as long as we can get a ride back to the start point, it's not a big deal to recover and get home. With the radiator repair, I also mounted a condenser and got the AC working again. In the process, I also found that I needed to replace both radiator fans and a fuse. The AC cools nicely now, but there's a slight burning oil smell when it runs for a while. I'm hoping that it's just residue from past activities. At highway speed, the snorkel was wobbly, so I extended it a little further and firmly mounted it on the roof.

There's still a few problems. With the hood up, I noticed that one of the strut mounts was completely shot. I didn't want to go back in there, but it needed to be replaced.

I still had struts on the Parts-Jetta, so I pulled them and improvised an improved spacer using an old Porsche Boxster IMS bearing and an axle nut. This way it sits much better on the strut with a wider contact surface rather than a narrow edge with the pipe. The pipe cut into the strut bearing a little.

Pic for comparison, one Jetta Strut done, one still original:

It all seemed good. Then I cracked the ABS sensor when I was putting it all back together. Then I found out that the strut dimensions are a little different from the Beetle struts and the tire tread barely clears the spring mount. I decided to stop there instead of continuing with the other side.

After this Gambler, I'll ponder my future intentions with the car and decide if I want to spend a little money on some new suspension parts, or just sort it out with what I have. I'm going to be busy with work between now and the weekend, so I think that the only other work on the car will be replacing the broken ABS sensor.

We are loaded up and on the way to the Gambler in Kansas. I added some lights to the roof this morning.

If VW comes up with a "Dune Baja" edition you have every right to take legal action

What did you do about the tire clearance issue?

In reply to Crackers :

The tire clears and it's a fixed distance at the base of the spring. It's about 2 mm at the closest part of the tread, but can't get closer unless something bad happens.

Speaking of bad, I have 2 spares for the Dung Beetle, 1 for Pepper, and... None for the trailer.

We were in town by the Gambler when it happened. I think it will be fairly simple to resolve during the morning after we check in at the event. It's at a motel parking lot, we are unloaded and good to go other than trailering the car home.

In reply to AAZCD :

If that’s the worst problem you have this weekend I’d say that’s some pretty good bad luck. 

The Gambler has started. Lots of cool cars and things have been going well since Mrs. AAZCD had her coffee. One of our checkpoints is a car show that we will be crashing with about 100 cars.

I'll sort through pics after the weekend and maybe do a short, separate Gambler -Kansas thread. Driving is done for today. The car held up great. I had a little worry towards the end of the drive when there was a burning rubber smell. I was worried it was an AC/Belt issue. Turned out to be the tire tread edge rubbing on the strut. Heat, mud, and a long drive must have shifted things just enough to catch the edge. I don't think it's really a problem.

Now I think it's time for us old people to have a short nap before dinner and the party at the campground tonight.

Dung Beetle was Awesome. I'm pretty sure that I will make a separate Kansas Gambler 500 thread, like I said earlier, but I'm swamped with busyness. For now, just a couple more pics and comments. The tire vs strut issue is an annoyance - not serious, but it smells bad when it does rub.  I'm going back to the New Beetle strut I think. The AC faded out 1/2 way through Sunday, but the weather was nice. No harm done. The route had a few fun water crossings and beautiful scenery through the Flint Hills region of Kansas. Dung Beetle was comfortable and capable. Better Than Stock.

Good to see there's a part of Kansas that looks good!

Man, you weren't kidding about how liberating it must be to just not care about a project. Could you do the $2019 in this? Or is there just no chance of getting a tally of total cost?

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

I thought for a moment about brining it to the Challenge, but it is built all the wrong ways for that. I'd rather keep working on my '91 Golf for the Challenge and leave the Dung Beetle built for Gamblin'. I should tally up the budget for fun. The car was acquired for free, I just paid the towing cost (about $250). Most of the parts were either literally junk, or came from my parts car Jetta ($300 total for the purchase). Misc junkyard expenses were about $100 from Cagle's. The parts Jetta could be recouped down to nothing I have lots of good parts including a good engine for resale and scrapped the shell for $100.

Here's some video from two water crossings.