This is my current daily driver. I purchased this car back in March 2003 for $400. When I got it the car had been sitting for about 8 years or so (at the house I bought it from) and who knows how long it sat b4 that. The person that was selling it had bought it several years ago with the intentions of restoring as a weekend car, but he wasn't able to find the time or money to ever even begin the project. That's where I came in and picked up where he left off. I towed the car home with my dads Dakota and after an hour or so we finally get back home. I unhooked the car and began to wipe the cacoon of dust off the windows and the rest of the car (you literally couldn't see through the windows at all.) The fenders also had what looked like moss growing on them as well. After I finally got the car cleaned up I began to try and see if it would run. Unfortunately the starter was messed up so I hooked it back up to dads truck and we pulled it up and down the road while I put the car in 2nd gear and allowed the motor to be turned by the wheels. After about 15 minutes of doing this she finally came to life after many years in hibernation. It ran terribly and I immediately knew the engine would need a rebuild. Since I currently didn't have enough funds to rebuild the motor just yet (I was 16 at the time and I only worked during the summer for my Grandpa) I began to take off all the old or worn out pieces of the car: carpet, side mirror, starter, chrome trim, headliner, everything I could find that needed to be replaced. I made a list of all the things that I saw that were not in decent condition and started ordering all my parts (I did this in 2004 in January) I ordered all the parts I could afford (about $730 worth of stuff on the 1st order) The UPS man hated me after that I'm sure lol. And me and my dad got to work on the body. We removed the windows and all the rubber on the car, we sanded the whole car with a single palm sander and did all the bondo and body filling until it was ready to primer. I primered the whole car myself which took forever! After that I let the car sit in primer until later that summer (about July 2004) During that time I sent my motor and the rebuild kit that I purchased ($300 87mm Pistons and Jugs, rods, pushrod tubes, engine gaskets, and valves.) to my grandpa and uncle and they rebuilt it for me. When it was finally finished about a month later I went to my grandpas house and picked it up and took it home and bolted it up. Unfortunately I was dissapointed to find that the motor kept flooding and it would barely run at all. I determined that the carb was in need of a rebuild, after a couple weeks my cousin hooked me up with a gallon of Smokey mountain blue paint (I think it is a GM 1988 color) for a very cheap price. I then had my uncle to paint it for me around August of 2004. It turned out much better than I thought it would! Then finally in January of 2005 I was able to send the carb off the shop and have it rebuilt and cleaned and tuned up. When I finally got my car back in March (I also had the brakes redone and the front end redone, new bushings and struts.) I was about to have a heart attack because I was so excited about finally getting to drive my car (I got my license in January 2005 and this was March) I cranked it up and it ran perfect! I put it in gear and of course a perfect shift! Then I accelerated out of the parking lot and Oh man! Talk about a great feeling lol! I drove it home and was very much ready for the next day of school when I could show it off to my friends! Well after several years of driving perfectly, me and a couple friends met up and decided to go to Wilkesboro Dragstrip. We all followed each other there, it's about an hour from my house. When I'm about 2 miles from the track I noticed a problem...my car was losing power quickly. When I stopped at a stoplight it died. Luckily I was right next to a gas station so I pushed it over to the parking lot. The engine was sizzling hot and when I checked the dipstick it appeared to have no oil in it! I was almost sick.......Well I left the car and went on to the track with my friends. Later that night about 11:00PM we came back and I bought some oil to put in it. I put all 3 quarts in it and cranked it up, so far no problems.....I drive it about a mile down the roadand it starts sputtering again and now smoke is billowing out the back of the car. When I get out the whole rear is covered in oil and I mean COVERED. Well after a few choice words and some time to think I got the bright idea to tow it home with my friends truck. (By this time it is about 2:30 AM) I couldn't afford a tow truck so we got 2 3' cables and hooked them to the truck and the frame of my car and off we went. I had to brake the same time as the truck and steer also in order to not collide with the rear bumper of the truck. After several hours we finally made it back. I found out that the oil was still there in the car and when I added more it overflowed and that's why the oil was blown all over my car. The engine got so hot that the oil turned clear like water and wasn't visible on the dipstick at night. I waited until later that fall (about November 2007) and took it to the shop again. After several days I recieve a phone call from the owner of the shop telling me that the engine was very badly damaged but it was fixable.....He said the pistons are fried and so are the jugs and rods....and bearings...and crankshaft....and valves..............and the heads are cracked. I almost cried......he said he will replace everything if I still want him to, I said yes so he went to work. Well after a while he called me and said it was ready to be picked up. The bill was $1200.....holy crap. Well after that it has been all good, and hopefully now I won't ever have anymore problems (considering I made some new modifications).  I recently installed an Empi short throw shifter, some freeze plugs were put in the shroud, I took the heater boxes out and put in J-tubes. Now it runs cooler and better. I'm planning on installing an SVDA distributor soon, it offers a much better throttle response and it eliminates the flat spot that most beetles have during acceleration.

Check out my exhaust vids!

http://video.cardomain.com/clip.aspx?key=1CD0F56AAC5C3F78

http://video.cardomain.com/clip.aspx?key=3A4E20871B6EFD44