Red92

Did you check with MRW (MRT)? http://www.mrt-wheels.com/

What year is the Beetle? The later years had roomier engine compartments...

Yikes! Be careful...

I had a similar problem with the plugs in my quad-cam EJ20. Those rear plugs exited straight into the frame rails. I ended up doing the tools piece by piece.. I had to slip the socket in, then the wobble extension, and then snap the ratchet on. As it came out, I had to disassemble the tools again and unscrew it the rest of the way by hand before I could get the plugs out.

Yep... and if I remember correctly from the recall, it was because of paint quality or painting defects that the springs would rust and break. So if your current springs still have good paint and aren't rusted, then you might be safe from the problems your '95 had.

If it is going down that slowly, you probably wouldn't ever find the "smoking gun" puddle. One option to help find the leak would be to buy a bottle of the UV dye from the local auto parts store, pour it into the radiator (not the overflow bottle!), drive it for a while (a week or two?), and then look around the engine bay and underneath at night with a UV flashlight. Any place where the coolant has been leaking will glow under the UV light. If you go a few months with the dye, and still don't see anything, but the coolant has still gone down, then you will know that it is an internal leak. Note that if you do try the dye, be sure to check your car over with the UV light first before you add the dye. Someone else could have used the dye in the past, particularly for an air conditioner repair, and you would want to clean off any remaining dye first so that you can tell where your NEW leak is at.

Another option is to look through the old patents. Patent filings have really nice technical diagrams from all different angles, and once you get past the legal jargon, they even tell you how it all works. Try going to http://patents.google.com, and typing in searches like: * torsen differential * limited slip differential * locking differential * automotive differential * etc.

If you have a Harbor Freight near you, this looks like the exact same bender, for $60 less. http://www.harborfreight.com/12-ton-hydraulic-pipe-bender-32888.html

The Brat. If it is coming to WI, we might as well keep an eye out for it.

What color was it?

It's a bit small, but here is a picture of my '94 GT in "winter mode" with 205/70/15's on Outback alloys. It doesn't seem like much at first, but this is the "impossible" tire size that everyone says doesn't fit on the first gen Legacies unless you swap in the later Outback struts to lift it. I have almost zero clearance against the rear struts and spring perches... and the tires probably only fit because they have a touch of camber wear on the inner sides. For reference, the stock tires were 185/70/14s, so these are a bit over 3/4" wider, and 2+ inches taller. You can definitely tell the difference, the car sits noticeably higher up with these wheels/tires on it.

So true.

There is a HUGE gap though between just "approving of", and then actually wanting one of her own.

It might depend on the type of fuel cell too. Some of the flexible rubber "bladder" types are designed to run ventless, and used that way on purpose. They just collapse internally when the fuel is sucked out. It's safer that way, as there isn't a pocket of fuel/air mixture inside the tank to explode, and the shrunken tank internals can be moved around more by an impact/deformation or even puncture of the metal outer shell, allowing the tank bladder to remain sealed and without spraying out the gas under pressure when the outer tank is deformed/crushed.

No, but it makes it harder. It also looks suspicious to get in through the window, whereas nobody would think anything of it if someone walked up to a car and got in with the key.

Oh yeah, I completely agree with you. Definitely replace the belt while you are in there doing the work. I made the same mistake with my username... I don't have my '92 anymore, and to confuse it even more, my '94 is red. I should have picked something more generic. :-\

That would keep the car from being moved, but it wouldn't stop the other person from getting into it again...

On a '95?

That's how it always goes.

^ Seconded. (What Tom wrote) That looks like an extremely clean car. Don't forget that sale prices fluctuate seasonally too. Anything 4WD/AWD can fetch a huge price premium in late fall / early winter if you are in an area that gets a lot of snow... or an area that gets a moderate amount of snow but where people panic easily.

As I mentioned in your other thread, some trailer wheels don't have safety beads. This would be one reason why tire shops wouldn't mount a passenger car tire on a trailer wheel. As for the "why", here is my other post:

The safety bead is a raised lip immediately inward from where your tire sits. What it does is keep the bead of the tire from moving inward when your tire deflates. This keeps the tire from flopping around, and keep the rubber aligned and rolling, helping you maintain control in a blowout situation. It also does a really good job protecting your wheels (keeping them from contacting the pavement). The safety beads also help keep the tires from being pushed sideways off the bead when you are cornering hard. Safety beads are a significant safety feature, so you should really think twice about using wheels that don't have safety beads. If pictures help, it is because of safety beads that most flat tires look like this: instead of this: I suspect the reason why they are optional on trailer wheels is because the trailers generally have stiffer, heavier duty tires, and are subjected to (relative) lower side loads than a car when it is cornering. They also have more controllable failures than a car, particularly if a loose tire is flopping around and binding up one of the front wheels of the car. It also could be that the trailer wheels/tires were made for running inner tubes, whereas most passenger car wheels/tires are not. Personally, I would strongly advise you NOT to run a wheel without a safety bead, especially since you don't have the wheels and have to buy something new anyway. For the few extra bucks that the safer wheels cost, it just isn't worth the risk.

Does anyone know what years these were made? (for this body style)

Some trailer wheels don't have the safety bead... A tire shop *might* mount a tire, but personally, I would much rather have wheels that have the safety beads. Did you think about drilling the hubs? It seems like a similar level of effort, especially since you have the car so far apart... and it gives you more wheel/tire flexibility in the future. Or, if you really want to stick with the 4-lug, have you looked into having wheels custom made in the right pattern? Diamond and MRW (MRT) are two companies that do this - might be worth a quick phone call for a price quote.

Did they get enough fluid back in the transmission? Do you feel it slipping at all?