dune buggies and hotVWs December 2018

I can’t believe how time flies – it’s already the December issue. We are wrapping up 2018 a little bit earlier than the actual calendar. After OCI Media took over the ownership of hotVWs Magazine in April 2017, we have produced 20 issues so far. They are just a tiny portion of the 585 issues since publication began in 1967. We are very proud to be part of hotVWs Magazine’s history, spreading over half-a-century. Yes, 585 issues is remarkable. Only a handful of magazines are able to achieve a 51-year milestone and we are one of the few. You know this is thanks to our long-term readers, advertisers and the loyal support of our very special contributors. I can’t say “Thank You” enough times. Let’s keep the wonderful air-cooled Volkswagen…

Oil Cooler on 1971 Super Beetle I want to ask about my plans to install an oil cooler behind the front grille of my 1971 Super Beetle. The car has a high-performance 2276cc motor equipped with dual Weber carbs. I want to take advantage of that front grille and thought there might be a kit on the market to fit an oil cooler. Is there an oil cooler that might work well for this application? Also, should I worry about oil pressure loss running such long distance? I have a 30mm oil pump. Thanks so much for your expertise. Cheers! Jack Wyse From the Internet Jack, at our shop, we set up a rally car (2330cc engine) with just such an oil cooler in front. I had some question…

One of our new bucket list items is to start visiting shows we’ve never been to before. So, when we saw a newer VW show on Facebook, we decided to plan a vacation around it. Little did we know it would end up being the highlight of our trip! The show is Dubs in Geneva, held along the shores of Lake Erie, in Ohio. Now in its third year, this Labor Day Weekend show has all the makings of a hit: a beautiful locale, great volunteers, supportive sponsors, wonderful cooperation with the city, and Dubs – fabulous Dubs! I chatted with organizer Mike Kortan about the origins of this great event. “It started out as a conversation with my friend James Sopher. He said he had this idea for a…

What is a mid-mount and do you need one? Read this first and then decide if you need one. If you own a 1968 or later Bus, you can stop reading as there is no way to put a mid-mount on later Buses. Or you can read on and impress your friends. What is a mid-mount? It is an after-market mount for the transmission that usually bolts to the cluster housing on the transmission, then is attached to the transmission forks. It provides a stronger front mount in a sense. There are two types and tons of different styles. The style isn’t as important as the type. There are solid ones that usually weld in to the forks, and rubber ones that pretty much bolt in. So, which one do…

Most everyone who has a German-built Split Bus manufactured after mid-October 1958 knows about the M-code plate, which tells certain production data for a Bus. It is located on the right-hand side of the partition wall behind the front seat. I quickly found the plate on the first Type 2 that I owned back in 1992, and I was immediately curious as to what it said. Back in the good old days (like when I had to drive my Bus to school in the snow, barefoot and uphill), there was no internet, and information on M-codes was sparse. I first found the M-code plate before any book or magazine had given any information in decoding them. So, I figured them out on my own – sort of. The top row…

I am deeply involved in the world of social media. In fact, daily, I question my sanity in the amount of time I devote to it, but I have found that it is a truly amazing way to reach others in the modern age we live in. I don’t have a shop in a busy city, in fact I live in a very remote area and as a result there are no customers that wander by, there is no showroom to view; it’s just me and my computer, and a bunch of junk in the garage in the middle of nowhere. My showroom and persona is all on the internet and that’s a pretty cool thing. Honestly, if it were not for the internet I would probably be doing something…