Scott Schneider
Cylinder Heads
So, not that the accessories are off, we can work on the heads. Start by sliding the large wire down the valve cover on each side of the engine. Go ahead and take off the large wire also. Now that the rocker arms are exposed, take a socket set and remove the two nuts (and washers) holding those on and put all of this into a bag labeled “right (or left) head”. Pull the pushrods out of the tubes and make sure you keep them in the same order, so you can put them into the proper cylinder There are four pushrods per side, eight in all.
The Niello Ranch Run is held in the spring of each year in Sacramento. Niello owns a Volkswagen dealership in town, and holds this event on his property. There were bands, food, and many VWs. There is also a “run” which starts at Niello in Sacramento to Rancho Cordova, CA. Here are our pictures.
Sheet Metal
In this segment, we are going to remove the sheet metal that keeps the bug cool. One misnomer on this sheet metal is that is does not radiate heat, it ducts it. The tin that came with the bug is more than suitable to do this, where if it were chrome trim, the engine would be prone to overheating. You can feel the air push out the back of a properly running engine. Each piece is critical to the cooling of the engine, so keep these handy. These are all fastened by tin screws. I am not going to run down the entire list of what needs to happen here, it should be fairly self explanatory. Keep all of your parts in a bag labeled ”Sheet Metal”.