Meet Dee-Bug...

[Dee-Bug]

My wife always wanted an older Beetle since I have known her for the last 13 years. Since I am a Buick man,I shrugged it off. My wife lost her job to a Mexico based company and was paid to return to college.At the age of 50,she was reluctant to start a new career,but decided to take up LPN nursing.I told her if she made it through,got her license and a job,we would look for her a Beetle to drive. She liked the NB's alot so I began the search.I was looking for a diesel and did some research on them finding out the good as well as bad things that were common.About a month into looking I happened on our NB. It had 86,000 miles 5 speed and the 1.9L motor I was wanting.It doesn't have a sunroof but I was happy with that. The only thing was it was yellow. I really wanted a black,red,silver or blue first,but color was the last thing in deciding.We purchased the yellow car and went out and picked it up. I seen a few items that needed to ba addressed so, this winter I can fix it up a little better and running solidly. We have so far got the best mileage of 52.0 mpg on our way to Philly.Here is our Beetle we named Dee-Bug after my wife's name Deanna..





I started some jobs to make the car look better. My 1st one was the addition of the rear spoiler,which I will b

e having paint matched with the taillight daisy's and eye lids.



Today's job was to remove the severely broken mesh grille and replace he with a nicer unit and replace the beat up old fog lights with new units.

[Dee-Bug]

After about 11/2 hours and some work,I managed to replace the grille section.Removing the fenders and such wasn't all that tough,You just have to take time and be careful not to damage the paint.





While I had the fenders and bumper off,I cleaned the inner fenders and the radiator support before reassembly. For it being a 1999,it was rather clean under there.My driver headlight has always been fogged up,so I was contemplating replacing them both with new ones.That is the reason the headlight is uninstalled yet..


But upon further review,I seen that the outer lens was not snapped into the housing all the way.The rubber seal looks great and the glue type seal is overall nice shape too.






So,I decided to bring them in the house and let air dry a little. After I let them dry,I will snap them together and put them near my pellet stove to see if I can get the seal to seal up the lens.It's worth a shot,but I will get new ones if this doesn't work out for me..

[Mr.Yellow]

Looking good. already makeing some good progress. keep it up

[TennesseeBug]

Looking great! I hope your wife is enjoying her new career, and her New Beetle.

[VDubYah]

Looks Good

I have just three things to say TIMING BELT, TIMING BELT,TIMING BELT

Even with only 86,000 miles in a 99 the belt is old and past its prime. If it breaks your'll feel a big sucking feeling in you wallet.

Find a good TDI guy and get it done asap

[Dee-Bug]

VDubYah,
I ordered the complete timing kit from Bora Parts and plan to get the timing belt replaced over the winter as we are not running it throughout the winter. It's nestled in the garage with my 70 462 Buick and 2 other Buicks. I just want to get these small things done do I can get things painted etc before spring. I looked on the TDI forum and there is a guy local to me and I plan on calling him to see about the timing belt replacement.

[VDubYah]

I spotted that other project next to the beetle. Hope I did not affend, just trying to be helpful. Good to hear TB is on your radar. You'll hear some horror stories here.

Merry Christmas:rein deer:

[dnyed]

I love that you are bring the New Beetle TDI back to a new life. Thank you!

[Kuplamies]

Welcome to the org!
I´m also a TDI driver and I like it a lot!

Good progress so far; looking forward to see more pics...

Happy miles with your TDI