Gerrelt's Garage

The rear drum brakes I have on my beetle are working fine. They could be a little more stronger, but they are doing their job. The problem with them that they have to be adjusted every 1 or 2 years. Adjusting the drum brakes is not a real big job, but it is a job. 

The real thing that bothers me that gradually the pedal must be pushed deeper and deeper until the time comes to adjust the brakes again. In other words, the pedal doesn't allways feel the same. Now I know that the 1303 was delivered from factory in some countries ( I believe Sweden was one of them) with self-adjusting drum brakes. But, I also heard the system is prone to failure.

Switching to rear disk brakes also solves this problem, AND it should improve the stopping power of my beetle.

This page will explain how to make a rear swaybar from a porsche 924/944 fit a beetle with IRS rear axle. This rear swaybar was optional on the Porsche 924 and Porsche 944. The rear suspension setup of a 924/944 is basically the same of that of an IRS beetle. It is a bolt on, but not without some fabrication and some adjustments of the stock Porsche brackets. This page describes how I did it, which is probably not the best way to do it. But I did it with the skills and tools I currently have (which aren't the best...my daily job is an office job, so...). As I am writing this, the swaybar is not yet bolted to my 1973 super beetle, but to a (swingaxle) floorpan I have leaning against the wall, which made fabricating brackets a little easier. But it is not yet tested in real life, I haven't driven with this setup yet..

  Normally I drive with my headlights on all the time. Also during the daytime. It is proven that this improves your visibility on the road. But if you turn on the headlights you also turn on the city lights (Europe only?), dashboard lights, license plate light and the rear lights. This all adds up to 143 watts! This energy must be created by the engine which uses fuel for doing that. The automotive industry has come up with a solution to this problem. They now have LED lights specially designed for being seen during the daytime (a lot of Audis have it). LED lights use very very little energy compared to conventional bulbs. These lights are always on when the ignition of the car is switchted to on. They are called daylight driving lights. But, due to europe legislation, the daylight driving lights must be switched of when you switch on the normal headlights.