Questions about automatic 1969 230

[lyeinyoureye]

From the outside this looks gorgeous. New tires, supposedly rebuilt transmission, no rust, not sure about the interior but I'm hoping it's as clean as the exterior. In any event, according to the owner it needs a fuel pump and it won't crank. Based on my experience with older watercooled VWs, I'm guessing it's probably the grounds, or maybe the solenoid is stuck.

In any event, what should I watch out for, and what can I check? I figure I can turn the engine over by hand with a breaker bar in order to make sure the internals are o.k. But aside from that and other basics I don't know what to look for with these cars.

[cth350]

Ah, my first car; a 1969 230/8.

First, rust. It's there. get under the car and look. Make sure there are no holes in the floor and the bottom of the firewall. Also look at the spots where the floor meets the rocker panels (metal area under the doors).

Second, fuel delivery. The car should have a mechanical fuel pump on the bottom of the motor above the oil pan. If you can crank the car with the starter, you should see fuel coming from the line that goes around the front of the motor and to the twin carbs.

The carbs, you should have two large, round zeniths. Fun to rebuild. If the car has been sitting a while, you will need to rebuild them. If you are mechanically competent, you'll spend a day taking them apart carefully and reassembling them and trying to get them set up correctly. This is not for the faint of hart, as there are about a dozen things to get right.

Definitely hand crank the motor. But before you do, remove the valve cover and make sure the cam is clean. Then oil the cam a little. Make sure there are no dry contact surfaces. Then crank away by hand clockwise. Perfectly OK to do the hand cranking with the cover off. You'll see the chain slack be picked up on the manifold side of the motor by an extra gear. Put the cover back on before you use the starter.

With it not cranking, you either have a bad starter or the neutral safety switch wiring is screwy. On the 230/8, look for a little 6 pin connector on the back edge of the battery tray. It will have one wire bundle disappearing down the transmission tunnel and another bundle heading off towards the starter.

With the owner's permission, gently pry off the cover on the connection to expose the three pairs of wires. They purple and purple/white ones should be the neutral safety switch on the side of the transmission. Run the transmission through P/R/N/4 and make sure that you see 0 volts across the wires in P & N, but 12v in R & 4. The switch could be bad or the shifter could be out of alignment and the car isn't really in park.

-CTH

[300SDog]

Whats the mileage on this vehicle? Expect it needs valve seals at/above 120k miles - complete valve job at about 135k. Try and do a compression test - should be well above 125lbs and close across the board. Not uncommon for #6 cyl to vary a little though.

Meanwhile drafty firewall was common complaint, basically rubber boots for accelerator linkage etc. And how long has the car been sitting undriven? If awhile then hydraulics are suspect. Another common prob is driveshaft center support bearing, not expensive. And subframe rubber bushings where rear wishbone meets the unibody at/near rear jackpoints. Motor and tranny mounts too.

Good news is 1969 was an exceptional year equipped with massive upholstery, corner vent windows and thicker sheetmetal than later versions. 114/115 are hot little cars right now with zero attrition rate and value goin nowhere but up.

[lyeinyoureye]

Thanks! Geez, this is more info than I could hope for. I love the forums. A couple final questions if you two have the time. What price would you consider reasonable if for whatever reason the motor was toast and the car was in good shape, and assuming the automatic oil pump is driven off the drive shaft can the car travel a few miles at ~50-60mph towed flat?

Edit-I emailed the owner over the past couple of weeks with no response after the initial few, so I'm pretty sure I got sniped since it was a nice car at a nice price. Ah well... Shows me for being naive.