Volkswagen Beetle Ac / Disk Break

[unknownplan]

Hai brothers,

So I got my first car, a vw bug 1960

And I was wondering where can I add AC to this? Ive seen 5 or 6 with AC in srilanka but I donno where to find them anymore.

Ive already asked VW motor works, and im waiting for a quotation

Any place you guys know of?

And wot disk break kits would you guys recommend?

Thanks in advance

[Scooter]

You have bought a 1960 Beetle? Ac a bug? Sure u can. Heaps of stuff out there on the net - particularly US sites - about how to do it. But why bother? It's 60 year old car, by your data. Nurture it, bring it back to original, enjoy the quarter-lights that Dr Porche gave you.

These Beetles are getting rare. There's a restored one in the Uk floating arounf at 8000 quid at the moment.

Here's a vid to get ya on the right track, if that's a 60 year old Beetle ya bought:

[unknownplan]

Thanks for the fast reply,

Yep the book says 1960 and has a 1300 engine. Well we have two with us. One for my dad he wants it to be a classic and have the original look. so what i want to do to my bug is make it a more comfy ride.

Well there's a lot of sounds coming in to the car, Well gotta say the engine sounds Nice this is one of the main reasons I want to AC it so automatically it will reduce the sound. I know a bit about sound deadening but couldn't find any sheets here. I went to Pet#o La#ka they said they dont have em now.

But I really want to AC it because of the heat coming in from the engine. with the sunny weather these days and engine heat its almost a oven inside it. I saw some sites having kits just for the bug. but none in Srilanka. So I thought of adding a Tata Nano, Mini Cooper or Maruthi AC kit to this. anyone of you think this is doable at home? I mean its basic setup for any car right?

[Scooter]

Up to you what ya do with the car. But if it's a '60s VW it's getting to be a seriously historical bit of kit now. Sure you can aircon it, blimey, u could cut a hole in the roof and have a moonie, widen the wheel arches and shove some big tyres in and maybe have the interior done out in fancy pink pleated leather and fluffy satin like a hot Chinese brothel. But why? It's getting to be a classic car.

Being serious. Beetle always are chug-a-chug noisy. For the last 50 years someone has drven this car around with no air-con and sweaty armpits and enjoyed the noise cos it said "the motor is still going, whweeeeee, and I'm going to get home." Vw sound proofing came from a pad or two of sound-deadener mastic stuck on the floor and tunnel, a bit of horse-hair felt here and there at the back under the rear seat, and from the upholstered panels and rear-seat itself. Hot car, open the windows. That's it, that's the charm of the bug.

My humble advice, pop the car in the carport for a couple of months, sit on the ground beside the front wheel now and then, reading a few classic VW write-ups, absorb the vehicle's history and kharma, and the do the right thing by the old gentleman and give it a good restore. Hell, if you do that you might be walking along one day in 40 years time with your Grandkids and see that same veedub chugging down Duplication Road, and you can say " Hey, kids, blah blah blah......." And they'll say "Shut up Granpa, we heard all about your 2013 resto before....buy us another ice-cream" Trust me, it's worth the effort on this car of yours. :-)

[Sampath Gunasekera]

Hai brothers,

So I got my first car, a vw bug 1960

And I was wondering where can I add AC to this? Ive seen 5 or 6 with AC in srilanka but I donno where to find them anymore.

Ive already asked VW motor works, and im waiting for a quotation

Any place you guys know of?

And wot disk break kits would you guys recommend?

Thanks in advance

I saw a post on VW motor works FB page that they have already fixed A/C for 2 VW bugs.

[Clark's son]

It's a case of making it usable in the Colombo heat isn't it. sometimes even with the ac on it is unbearable,

I once saw a AC unit cliped to the underside of the dashboard of an old Peugeot,

may be if you can fix one with out damaging the car much it would be nice so that some day you could restore it to the original condition.

[unknownplan]

Thanks scooter for your advice, well I was thinking to myself and decided to keep it classic, but still wouldnt you think adding ac will not harm its classic value... well ive seen some with AC but didnt see a much difference on the dash.

And as Clark's son see the point is the heat. Sure windows are there, but this car dosnt have rear windows, thats a bug most would say but as im still a student im looking at atlest 6more years with this car. Seriously I love german and Italian cars.

And as sampath gunasekara says I asked VW motor works but still no reply.and from wot ive heard there prices are pretty high.

And thanks again for scooter for pointing me in the right direction, well scooter I dont see me selling this car because of you and its my first car after all. and just like my dad id keep this and buy another for daily use when I have a job xD after all these are not that high in price so why sell it.

So dose anyone here think that adding ac is doable at home, if its not explosive that is xD

Edited May 26, 2012 by unknownplan

[Scooter]

Ok, mate, if you're determined to go aircon and if you promise to reno the car and if you promise to keep it for another 6+ years (and maybe for ever cos we've all learnt that in retrospect the first cars are the ones we wished we had kept!) pop into this site:

http://www.classicautoair.com/

Powerful thing about the site is that there are heaps of detailed installation manuals showing how to fit a/c to older (ok. they're US) cars. Will give you an idea what the facia/cabin installation would probably have looked like if VW had fitted a/c in 1960. Also heaps of info there about how to install compressor/evap units etc. Now, I reckon with a bit of ferreting around the second-hand and scrapped car places you might come up with a small compressor (maye from a little Jap car) and associaed condensor and evaporator unit. Now where you would fix the condensor in a VW is a bit of a query cos it should really go up the front of the car, yet you've got the compressor hanging out the back and what do you do with all the refrigerant piping and lagging and so on? All biggie questions.

Alternative approach might be to look at a scrapped hrybrid, some use a totally electrical a/c system. Gonna cost ya a fortune though.

Look, air con on a VW bug can be done and has been done - here are some pics on compressor brackets, kits etc http://vwparts.aircooled.net/SearchResults.asp?Search=air+condition - but you gotta ask yourself, is it going to muck up the classic and is it worth the effort? The real killer with a/c on a 60s bug is that you got no real horsepower to start with and the a/c compressor load is going to kill it in performance (???:-)) terms .

Anyway, keep all of us in touch as it looks like you've got a real interesting little project on you and your Dad's hands!

[rameez]

AC will not harm the classic value........it is done in many places......look at the magazines......

when we talk of modifications there are mods that harm the car outright.........and there are some which are not that harmless.........say like making it into 12v for 6v to move on with the times this is needed. there are after marlet parts built specially for this purposes. there was a kit by beetlemex that you could fix it right to you car.........no idea if it is still sold.....you tube had some videos try them out...and yes please do fix an AC to beat the heat........but do not do any mods for your car......she will look great and comfy then

[Sylvi]

Members,

I have converted the same 6 Volts dynamo to 12 volts with a small modification for many VW cars in good old days.

Sylvi Wijesinghe.

[Scooter]

Yeh, seen the slippery road all before, nice little bit of classic kit. Hey, let's do a few mods...no harm in it ...ya see it in all the magazines and stuff...just bring it up a bit modern like...stick in some wheel spacers, some big rims, look at those cheap goofy tyres - why not - mmmm, hang in a decent sound system...cut a few holes outta the deck and doors for the speakers, beautiful.....well, thinks, paint job, Dave down the road'll do a nice metallic blue, couple of big stick-on go-faster stripes as well, it'll look great, go for it....that engine's sounding a bit cruddy, tell ya what, pull out the 1200, there's a donk out of a 1600L ( those double-jointed drive shafts will be a real improvement) we can stuff in...get a bit of a big bore muffler on too......s**t, them brakes are lousy now...let's get a set of disks off a '69 on e-bay...in they go...time for a bit of interior bling, get some nice seats outta that Toyota uncle is scrapping cos of the rust, etc,,,,,,,,and, eventually, what ya got???? A heap a junk, that's what ya got instead of a lovely totally original classic incredibly wunderbar oldtimer Grandad 1960 Beetle that's worth a bob a two, too.. Course, just my HO on a Sunday loaf on AL. What do I know??? Bugger all, really.

[unknownplan]

first of all thanks for all the helpful comments,

Silvy- I think mine has 12v already anyway to verify? (Im a total noob)

Yeah as rameez says I just wanna beat the heat. Well searched around and found a way to reduce the sound and engine heat...

Let me present to you Mc-Foil - they say this can reduce the heat and vibrations.

Well some pros must be laughing at me for this, I have seen foil inside cars and vans so it might not be new to you well im a newbie as they say xD So i was thinking why not repaint the inside with some laqure based paint to avoid corrosion and then cover it with some Tar Sheets (yeah, wot they use for roofs) this will act as sound deading and will seal off any leaks yeah? And then add foil then sponge finally that fake leather

so wot do ya think? and other recommendations for the tar sheet? Something which I can buy locally

Hahaha Totally agree with scooter on the last post. And yeah hell no not the engine I love it! Well not totally I was thinking of a matallic paint job and disk breaks. So scooter wot ya think?

[Sylvi]

'unknownplan',

To stop the sound and heat Mc-foil is OK I too had used two layers of same for my vehicle. On the hood to control heat inside the vehicle mine is black originally I painted hood out side with white so that the heat will be reflected.Don't paste roofing Tar sheets to your hood. It may not stick well they can warp for the heat.

I cannot mention much about Disk brakes it will be a costly matter.I have not done any conversions.

Sylvi Wijesinghe.

Edited May 28, 2012 by Sylvi

[rameez]

Bro,

so will you be fixing an AC to your bug?.....please keep us posted. like to know the outcome...

[Sampath Gunasekera]

Beetle A/C

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/lit/66air_conditioning/page1.jpg

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/lit/66air_conditioning.php

[bharathaj]

,

Hi unknownplan,

I have a 1969 VW Beetle and my mechanic installs a/c's according to the original standards. He has some original VW a/c kits and he prefers 1500CC and 1600CC bugs for the conversion. However I've seen a 1302 Beetle with original a/c's at his garage and I believe it had a 1300 engine.

If you want I can ask him to provide you more details...