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Great White |
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Life Experience Story by Jason R. Great White (aka Jason’s ’73 White Super Beetle) – A couple of months ago I was just driving along and could feel the engine not running correctly. Pretty soon it wasn't running at all. Knowing that my uncle, who has never driven a VW before in his life, knew a little something about cars. So I called him up and begged and pleaded for help. We checked everything from the timing to the oil. We also replaced everything short of the long block, carburetor and alternator at quite a cost, I might add. And to our dismay we could not get the car to start or turn over for that matter. At that point I decided to call in the Big Guns, Bill and Bobby, and literally cried my heart out to both of them. (Editor’s note: Bill was up to eyeballs in his daily driver’s torn down bug engine.) After many phone conversations and rechecking things Bobby agreed to come out to Collierville, accompanied by professional mechanic, Rob. They went to work quickly and found the problem in less than a heartbeat. The problem was in the heads and involved rocker arms being off and push rods that were not even close to being in the correct place. After consideration and work they both gave me options to choose and follow through. Neither of the options was to my uncle's liking. So the next day, without my knowledge, he rebuilt the outer portion of the heads. He told me a story about what he had been doing and I drove up in my dad's car to a running Volkswagen. Then the worst happened less than an hour later. The engine died again. This time the culprit was a plug wire that had decided to be mean and ruthless and come off its plug. The car ran great for a couple of weeks and then had me ready to douse it in diesel and blow it up (kids, do NOT try this at home!). But with patience I came to my senses and corrected the problem by myself, I might add. I think I am now ready for almost the anything. Great White Tamer – Jason
Ed. Note: Jason is a high school senior and is very active in our club. During this episode, his #1 & #2 cylinder valves were seizing. It was theorized that the heads were the originals and not suited for unleaded gasoline. The jury is still out on that one. I have one final note, since I am the “Bill” referred to in this story. I attempted to provide hours of “free phone support.” But due to time & distance restraints, I was unable to make that necessary house call. Maybe next time, since Verty seems to be back to semi-normal. - Bill |