I’ll let the sealant cure overnight before I fill with gearbox oil and install into the beast.
Side note, while researching what gearbox oil to use I learned that they want GL4 NOT GL5/6 as they can attack the brass parts, same for the air cooled transaxles. So now I have to drain 2 of my beetles because I recently filled them with GL5.
Hopefully it hasn’t been in there long enough to cause damage.
You’re doing an amazing job there! So it there a reasonable air gap once the fluid is in?
The oil is not so much an issue with the front diff with no syncro rings 
Not sure on your beetle boxes, but I think it’s more over time and with use rather than just sitting in the oil. But yes, worth replacing when you can!
Keep up the great work
Yes, big air gap. Certainly less fluid than was in it, but I’m fairly confident that it had pulled gearbox oil past the old seals.
I couldn’t find any official information on vicsocity or actual amount of fluid, only what others have posted on various forums.
So I’ll just have to cross my fingers and see how it goes.
Here are a few shots of the front diff going in.
2 jacks and a ratchet strap got it into position.
Now to get all the mounting brackets on and everything lined up nice.
Front axles in, flange bolts torqued to 44nm
Lower swaybar had to come off to get the axles into position.
I greased up the inner CV’s, installed the flange seal and slid a bag over top so I could get them in position without filling them with dirt.
It’s a time consuming process getting all the flange bolts in and evenly torqued up.
I just employed chat gpt to calculate the length of lever needed to get to 350nm onto the outer hub nut… it’s half a metre for my body weight.
I just got back from a lap around the block, goes around a roundabout seemingly fine. Nothing fell off or went bang. No shakes or funny noises.
Speedo works now (only got to 60kph).
Now to try the jack it up at the rear end and see if the front wheels can drive it off the jacks trick.
Well thats not an easy test, but it was trying to reverse of the jack stand i had on the drivers side rear. But I stopped before I bent my jack stand or spat it into something important underneath.
I’m happy with the results so far.
I need to finish up the minor rust repairs I’m doing so I can get the headlight surround back on, then I can take it for a proper test to 100kph (I’m sure that’s theoretically possible but the gearing is very low)
Nice work.
You really need to line up the front and rear diff nice and straight or you get vibrations at highway speeds.
When you get a chance go and stretch the old girls legs and get at least up to 100km/hr.
Hopefully you got it perfect!
Cheers,
Scott
By the way, if you are still having trouble with the buzzer of doom PM me and I will let you know how to solve that issue.
Cheers,
Scott
Thanks, I unplugged the module for now.
The aftermarket oil pressure gauge will have to do.
Hi Leon,
The best way to get rid of the buzzer is to bend down the pin closest to the centre of the speedo where the ribbon attaches.
Only the high pressure sensor is connected to the buzzer of doom so if you take just the buzzer out, your oil light will still flash on start up and go out unless the oil pressure drops really low and it will stay on.
I did this with my spare 2wd and it works great.
Everything else works but no buzzer or light on - except start up as it should.
Keep your oil pressure guage though.
They are better than the factory system.
Cheers,
Scott
Watch the above clip which explains it better
Nice!
Did you find the plugs in the door (about opposite to where you are welding), on the inside of the door? These get filled with dirt and causes that rust (or rust under the window seals lets water in)
Yes, i pulled them and use wire and compressed air to clear all the dirt out. The corner around 1 plug was rusted out, so I cut up a bit of a patch and welded it in. (Wasn’t pretty enough for a photo). I need to get in there today and sand the filler off and see how it comes out.
I picked up some Penrite 20w-60 oil today, to see if i can run the oil warning circuit without it going off.
Looks like someone was a little heavy handed last oil change, pulled all the threads out of the drain hole.
The Van is currently parked half-way in the garage, so I can’t close the door or park my beetle.
I’ve got a spark plug thread saver kit and ive just finished removing the ceramic from an old spark plug and welding the end up so far.
Luckily the engine isn’t in really good shape, so a dodgy thread saver repair won’t let me down before something else.
Speaking of. I think I’ve tracked down the poor running and cutting out at idle to a dead O2 sensor. I have 1 on the way.
Change of plan. I found an M16x2 tap in my collection (I thought all my big stuff was in my toolbox at work).
I’ll shorten an allen key head M16 bolt which will fit nicely in the recess.
I’m currently enjoying wiping out the swarf. I’ll use some of the old oil to flush what I can out, then
I’ll put the old oil filter and oil back in and run it for a short time, hopefully whats left in there gets picked up by the filter rather than the bearings.
Again, if it was a good engine, I’d pull the engine and split the case to clean it properly. But there would be no point putting this engine back together without a rebuild. If I’m going to spend any real money on engine, it will be an EJ25 swap.
You’re really getting into this one Leon, great work!
So the new O2 sensor has it running as it should?
Spark plug inserts would work well there and are a good fit. If you’re tapping there. it’s worth doing it with grease on the tap to collect the shavings and clean it off as you go.
If you’re using an M16 bolt, just don’t over tighten it, and use a soft (copper or aluminium) washer to seal it.
Thanks
I’ll try to get some pictures up soon.
before I tapped the oil drain with a spark plug saver, I found an M16x2 tap in my toolbox (I thought all my big stuff was at work).
So I shortened an M16 Allen head bolt, tapped the drain hole (lots of grease, didn’t help much).
I used a small pick and rags to get most of it out.
Then put some of the old oil in to flush the chips out.
I ran out of time that day, pushed it into the driveway and closed the garage door.
I also had a rotten oil cooler coolant hose break in the driveway (I had my work light resting on it).
It has green coolant, so I’ll flush with water and start again with Penrite Blue.
This weekend I’ll jack the front up to make the oil pan level and flush more oil through.
Then I will run the the engine with the old filter and some used oil to catch the last chips. Before new filter and Penrite 20w-60 full zinc
Old O2 sensor was removed after a bit blow torch action.
1 step forward 2 steps back.
At least the coolant hose split in the driveway 
…edit … Oops, I already said most of this 
…
But I’ll add that the coolant hose that broke off, was the rottenest hose I’ve ever seen on an engine that hadn’t sprung a leak while running. I’m guessing it was a trail side repair with an old used hose salvaged off something else… Looking at the cooling parts diagram, it’s supposed to have a metal tube between 2 rubber elbows to the oil cooler. Mine has 2 brass barbs joined together and then 2 longer coolant hoses. The rest of the hoses seem to be in better condition, but I will have a close look at them tomorrow and go from there
