Ever "unbeat" a beater?

svtrit

svtrit

Joined
May 7, 2020
Messages
842
Location
Ames, IA
I just took possession of my son and his wife's 2002 Beetle 2.0L (106,000 miles) as a driver for my 16 year old daughter. They were starving college students, and I helped to ensure the car was safe, but we did very minimal maintenance.

Well, now my daughter is going to drive their beater, and I need to get it up to snuff.

Under their ownership, I did:
Sparkplugs
Front pads
Supertech oil changes annually, they did 1 free one with a coupon I gave them from my local dealer, which lead to me changing out the oil plan later.

So far, I've done the following:

Timing belt, serpentine belt, and water pump
Antifreeze
Engine oil (replaced Supertech with Castrol European formula)
Rear pads and Rotors
Multiple general repairs for loose, flappy things, and reattach the window switches to the door cards
Fixed a rusty spot (rust preventer and paint)
Deep wash, clay bar, and Meguires Hybrid Ceramic spray wax
Transmission filter and a second dump and fill, need to do a third
Cleaned the fogged headlights.

Up next:
Gutting the interior for a deep clean (ugly sticky VW interior issues, and I think the sunroof was left open in rain a few times)
Access the blend doors to clean up the foam that is falling apart and blowing out the vents
2 tires, then 2 more before winter.
Throttle body cleaning
Debating on rear shocks, as it's a bit rough riding in the rear.

Has anyone else pulled a car out of beater status? This one is turning into a nice little car now that it's cleaning up.
 
I have kept beaters going long past their scrapyard date, minimal maintenance and a few bush fixes. One had rust holes in the floor board in front of the driver's seat, a small section of well worn plywood found on the beach went over it. Another overheated on just about any decent hill, had to run the heater with the windows open to keep it from boiling over. And so on.
 
svtrit said:
I just took possession of my son and his wife's 2002 Beetle 2.0L (106,000 miles) as a driver for my 16 year old daughter. They were starving college students, and I helped to ensure the car was safe, but we did very minimal maintenance.

Well, now my daughter is going to drive their beater, and I need to get it up to snuff.

Under their ownership, I did:
Sparkplugs
Front pads
Supertech oil changes annually, they did 1 free one with a coupon I gave them from my local dealer, which lead to me changing out the oil plan later.

So far, I've done the following:

Timing belt, serpentine belt, and water pump
Antifreeze
Engine oil (replaced Supertech with Castrol European formula)
Rear pads and Rotors
Multiple general repairs for loose, flappy things, and reattach the window switches to the door cards
Fixed a rusty spot (rust preventer and paint)
Deep wash, clay bar, and Meguires Hybrid Ceramic spray wax
Transmission filter and a second dump and fill, need to do a third
Cleaned the fogged headlights.

Up next:
Gutting the interior for a deep clean (ugly sticky VW interior issues, and I think the sunroof was left open in rain a few times)
Access the blend doors to clean up the foam that is falling apart and blowing out the vents
2 tires, then 2 more before winter.
Throttle body cleaning
Debating on rear shocks, as it's a bit rough riding in the rear.

Has anyone else pulled a car out of beater status? This one is turning into a nice little car now that it's cleaning up.
Click to expand...
I attempted to rescue this beater & turn it into a daily driver. Lots of money went into maintenance & repair items, and cosmetic restoration, but it was a fail in the end. Probably won't go down this road in the future.

82.jpg
 
I'll be doing that on my pickup soon. I honestly thought it was so rusty and wouldn't be worth fixing. With the price of used trucks, it's worth fixing!

It's low mileage so a lot of stuff isn't too worn out. But I'll be getting the transmission fixed, hopefully welding in wheel wells in to the bed and propping that up , rocker panels and cab corners over the winter. Maybe a few new doors!

I've already fixed some of the exhaust issues with it. The oil leaks will have to stay. Unless I can find a low mileage engine out of an econoline
 
SeaJay said:
I have kept beaters going long past their scrapyard date, minimal maintenance and a few bush fixes. One had rust holes in the floor board in front of the driver's seat, a small section of well worn plywood found on the beach went over it. Another overheated on just about any decent hill, had to run the heater with the windows open to keep it from boiling over. And so on.
Click to expand...
i knew a guy in college with an old datsun, he painted it yellow with brushed-on house paint and added a plywood sunroof.
 
I'd give the suspension a good once over and replace any worn out components. I didn't see that on your list and solid tie rod ends, bushings, etc will go a long way in improving the feel and handling of any older car.
 
"i knew a guy in college with an old datsun, he painted it yellow with brushed-on house paint and added a plywood sunroof."

Lol. Reminds me of when I bought my '89 SAAB 900S hatchback - the salesman said the floor in back was made of "aircraft grade plywood" - and that's probably true.

PS I meant to reply to the post prior to the one I initially quoted...
 
WylieCoyote said:
I attempted to rescue this beater & turn it into a daily driver. Lots of money went into maintenance & repair items, and cosmetic restoration, but it was a fail in the end. Probably won't go down this road in the future.

View attachment 59167
Click to expand...
By IA standards, that isn’t a beater!! I haven’t seen that vintage up here in years.
 
Best beater/daily driver I ever had was a 1969 Buick Skylark Special. It had an I6 and I think it had a Powerglide. Anyway, the car was dark green and it had a white hood and a red fender. Body was straight. Interior was worn but not bad.
I rebuilt the front end, the brakes and kept it in a good state of tune. All good electrical connections. Car was stone cold reliable. Best part, I could drive it and leave it anywhere. No one ever bothered it.
My other cars at the time were a big block four speed 69 Charger and a 1980 Trans Am that I had a ton of work into.
It was great pulling up to girl’s houses in the Buick. They’d always ask where’s the yellow car? (Charger) or where’s the Trans Am? I could always tell if there was going to be a second date by their reaction to the Buick. SOME were cool.
I’m always looking at cars in people’s driveways that have been sitting so I know they’re unfinished projects or something. I think hmmmmm... With an LS swap, that thing could be a cool station car.
 
Considering my daughter first car to be a 2000 Subaru Forester with 200k that mainly sits in parents field. She is not enthralled but will clean up interior and drop $300 in Apple CarPlay radio. She (15) bombs around it in my parents fields to learn to drive dodging the small trees.

She learned first hand how to get out of mud by driving into a low spot. Less throttle and grabbed some branches with cousins so it would claw it’s way out.
 
I brought my 1994 Explorer back from the dead. I bought it from a tow yard auction after the previous owner had driven it until it couldn't drive anymore and left it at a seasonal fireworks store. The belt tensioner pulley had fallen off, but the brakes were also totally shot, tires were bald, the radiator had a hole in one of the tanks, there was a head gasket leak I fixed with sealant, etc.
IMG_20181202_154954406.jpg


Once I got it running and driving, it was a really good truck. Literally from the first time I actually drove it, it never left me stranded or had a major mechanical issue. Always cranked right up and drove wherever I wanted. I put 12k miles or so on it and had cleaned it up pretty good...
IMG_20200614_201725072.jpg

IMG_20200612_160426956_HDR.jpg


Then driving home from work one night this happened when someone pulled out right in front of me...
IMG_20200930_205250981.jpg


I didn't have any serious injuries, some bruises and soreness and a small cut. That Explorer was the best $250 + fixing up costs ($2000?) I ever spent.
 
Last edited:
rooflessVW said:
Every single used car I have ever bought has been "unbeat" by me. Most especially the paint.
Click to expand...
You beat me to it. No pun intended.
That is what I am in the process of doing with my Oldsmobile now.
Only time will tell if I am successful this time around.
It is always SO satisfying "unbeating" a car.
 
My sons first car, used to be my daughters first car...a 2002 Jeep Liberty with 184,000 miles on it.

I won’t say I’m rehabbing it...more like helping it limp to the finish line. Yesterday I did a AC compressor bypass, after replacing the idler and tensioner pulley. Was making an awful racket...thought it was the water pump, but nope, it was the AC bearing (ac wasn’t working anyway). So I removed the entire compressor, wen to the forums and learned about the AC delete. Fingers crossed that it’s “ok”. I usually wouldn’t do something like this, but the forums seemed to say that it runs even better than before.

Next up, it needs front brakes and an oil change. I’m trying to get this thing to last until October (when we’ll buy him something better). Right now I just want him to learn how to drive in this thing and then scrap it. But he’s been driving the daylights out of it...back and forth to school, work, friends, girlfriend’s house. Really didn’t expect him to be driving this much🤔🤔🤔
 
svtrit said:
So far, I've done the following:

Multiple general repairs for loose, flappy things, and reattach the window switches to the door cards
Fixed a rusty spot (rust preventer and paint)
Deep wash, clay bar, and Meguires Hybrid Ceramic spray wax
Cleaned the fogged headlights.

Up next:
Gutting the interior for a deep clean (ugly sticky VW interior issues, and I think the sunroof was left open in rain a few times)
Access the blend doors to clean up the foam that is falling apart and blowing out the vents
Debating on rear shocks, as it's a bit rough riding in the rear.

Has anyone else pulled a car out of beater status? This one is turning into a nice little car now that it's cleaning up.
Click to expand...
For cosmetic and comfort issues, shouldn't the daughter be doing some of this instead of just be handed over a nice car?
 
I have un beat plenty of VW's. My first was a 1955 and after that a 1959 split window bus and etc. Must have been 20 of them. They are nice simple cars. When we bought a farm I needed a truck. Got a 1965 Dodge 1/2 ton with slant 6 and 3 on the tree. Great old truck needed rings and head job. Once that was done the floor of the cab was gone. Oh and you couldn't open the passenger door cause the hinge mount rusted off. Hey what do you expect for $150 dollars. Was able to drive it home. I killed a lot of mosquitos that day.
 
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