VWMike wrote:
>
> Hey Corrado, I've owned and driven 1000's of miles on 3 autostick
> vw's (currently I have a 70 Ghia with one) and have found them to be
> hated by most bug collectors, why i don't know. Possibly ignorance
> about them specifically, but maybe just loving their clutch and it's
> crisper control on the cars takeoff (if they've ever even had any
> experience with a properly functioning "Auto-suck", as I've heard
> them call it.)
> Keep your autostick operating properly (sometimes difficult and
> little info or experience available)and you will remain happy with
> it's performance and gas mileage (I've gotten 40 mpg on a long trip
> in my old '69 Bug) You need a good Bentley manual for the most
> detailed technical procedures to adjust everything properly and keep
> it maintained. The unit contains a (wet)hydraulic torque
> converter(just like any other fully automatic transmission) with a
> special two-sided engine oil/ trans oil pump in the stock engine-oil
> pump location and external lines and hoses to and from the reservoir
> under the right rear fender and the transaxle. The transaxle also
> has a (dry) clutch for gear changes controlled by a vacuum servo
> connected to a solenoid-controlled vacuum valve wired to a set of
> contact points in the shift lever. (If you drive with your hand on
> the shifter all the time you will probably accidentally actuate the
> clutch resulting in either jerky movement or no movement at all!)
> This is a fairly standard 180 mm bug clutch disc with a special
> (translation;rare and expensive)pressure plate that sends the torque
> converter's rotation to the gear mainshaft. This relatively small
> clutch will limit the horsepower that will transmit through it
> without slippage to under about 75 horses. It's a good idea to use
> the 87mm big bore slip-in piston/ cylinders (1641cc) or if you
> really can spend the money, machine-in 90.5's for 1776cc's. Due to
> the vacuum requirements for the servo to actuate properly, I don't
> recommend that you modify the stroke, heads, rockers, valves, cam,
> intake manifold and carb beyond thier stock configuration, but
> definitely put an aftermarket header and single- or dual- quiet-pack
> muffler(re-jetting the carb to suit the increased cc's and header
> though.......)and I believe that you will have what you are looking
> for in the way of better power and good performance without
> destroying the driveability and gas mileage of your car. If you
> don't feel happy with this slightly higher level of power, then you
> will be forced to convert your car to a manual transmission (and a
> regular oil pump!) with a 200 mm clutch to get up to 100 hp (or
> more!)to last. Also, in my engine-building experience, I do not
> recommend the 88mm (1688)slip-ins that you mentioned (if you can
> even find any!), because the cyl. walls are too thin and
> warp,overheat, burn oil, lose power, etc. in daily-driver use. This
> same thing occurs with 94mm (1915cc) big bores also. Even the
> 92mm's (1835cc) aren't the greatest in this respect either. I don't
> think that you can get 110 amps out of any alternator that will fit
> into a bug's stock location, but I remember seeing an ad for a
> high-output alternator in one of the magazines. I did know a guy
> that mounted a chevy-type 100amp alt. in addition to the stock one
> using custom made mounts and a very long fanbelt around the three
> pulleys. He probably just didn't wire in the stock one and only used
> it to fill the gap and drive the fan. Hope I've helped you, good
> luck.
I just had my Autostick and the torque converter rebuilt or at least
the sate they rebuilt it. I installed the tranny and the tranny
makes a grinding type noise when it's in gear and the vehicle doen't
move. If you put the car on a lift and operate it, it works with no
grinding, it only seems to grind when a load is on the car. I
removed the torque converter and the twi inner spines seem to move
around quite a bit about 1/4 or maybe even 5/16 of an inch of slop,
is that normal? Please help with any guidance.
>