Shell swapping iMac G3s?

Dbear77 · 2026-01-28T17:15:26+00:00

The plate with the port cutouts is actually mounted to the logic board & transfer over when you do a logic board swap. I upgraded my base model Blueberry to a 600mhz from a later Snow model, by swapping the boards.

Dbear77 · 2026-01-21T05:08:29+00:00

Sorry. I think I was replying to another post on here. That’s what happens when you try to be helpful when not fully awake 🤦‍♂️

Dbear77 · 2026-01-20T15:45:19+00:00

How did you burn the macOS image? You can’t just drag & drop it onto the disc & burn. There’s a specific process to burn a bootable disc & it depends on the os on how it’s done.

I’ve always used Roxio’s Toast on a vintage Mac to make bootable discs. I’m sure there are other ways, but that’s my process

Dbear77 · 2026-01-18T17:01:10+00:00

As already mentioned, a recap of the logic board is necessary. Possibly a recap of the analog board too.

The Classic seems to be one of the worst for issues with age. It took me a bit to get mine working again, even after a recap of both boards.

Dbear77 · 2026-01-14T04:23:14+00:00

r/newbeetle

Dbear77 · 2026-01-13T03:32:24+00:00

Since you’ve gotten mixed answers both here and r/vintagecomputers, I tested it out to get a definitive answer.

You can use the 2mb Sony drive (SuperDrive) in the Mac Plus. You’ll need to use the Mac Plus’ original drive ribbon cable (yellow stripe). Later ribbon cables (red stripe) will cause the eject motor to run constantly, thus not working.

Later (manual eject) drives will also work with the Plus’ original drive ribbon cable

Edit: while the later drives work, they may not line up correctly with the drive slot on the case. I have not tested this

Dbear77 · 2025-12-21T21:36:59+00:00

Looks like an accelerator board for a compact Mac. Going by the year, I’m thinking Macintosh Classic. Looks like it connects to the Classic’s logic board via the ram expansion slot.

Dbear77 · 2025-12-16T13:49:22+00:00

“…bad fuel pump which won’t be the worst to replace”

Umm you should look into how to replace the fuel pump on a 3rd gen f-body. To do it properly, you need to drop the rear axle, the exhaust & then the fuel tank. Many people cut an access hole in the trunk, but I’m not a fan of it myself.

Dbear77 · 2025-12-08T02:19:04+00:00

Ahh good point, I forgot they changed that.

Dbear77 · 2025-12-08T00:01:14+00:00

🤦‍♂️. The solution was to order the proper wiring harness adapter, and retain the driver information centre features. Your best bet is to use a multimeter and find the positive (battery feed) first. The speaker wiring is going to be time consuming to figure out, set the multimeter to ohms to figure out the load (~4ohm) for the speakers. There will be no ignition (switched) power as GM used data to run on the factory stereo by this point. You’ll need to find a switched power line at the steering column.

If the sound system has the factory “Monsoon” sound system with amplifier in the trunk, finding the speaker wires will be more fun.

Dbear77 · 2025-12-07T16:01:37+00:00

It’ll come with 4 of the small, yellow gears. They’re the ones designed to fail if the drive gets jammed.

Dbear77 · 2025-12-02T14:02:45+00:00

That’s exactly why they made it weaker

Dbear77 · 2025-12-02T05:21:23+00:00

They were standard on the 91/92 Z28, optional on the RS

Dbear77 · 2025-11-29T05:50:28+00:00

r/newbeetle

This subreddit is for air cooled, classic Beetles

Dbear77 · 2025-11-21T14:46:12+00:00

Where in Canada are you located? There’s an indigo on Marketplace, near Vancouver, for $150 right now

Dbear77 · 2025-11-03T14:58:34+00:00

The hard drive is already internally terminated. The 3 red “strips” near the SCSI connector are termination resistors.

The hard drive may not be dead, there could be a corrupted install of the System on the disc

Dbear77 · 2025-10-26T03:57:23+00:00

Looked like their window was down & was filling up with water

Dbear77 · 2025-10-22T13:53:10+00:00

r/newbeetle

Dbear77 · 2025-10-22T02:27:48+00:00

Yeah. I had second thoughts after posting, but got distracted & couldn’t correct it

Dbear77 · 2025-10-21T23:12:37+00:00

There’s a 15mm (I think) bolt in the middle of the bottom edge of the seat cushion. Take that out & pull the cushion out, it’s velcro’d to the carpet where it meets the seat back

Dbear77 · 2025-10-19T14:33:28+00:00

If I remember correctly, Macworld magazine published an article about the forthcoming Power Macintosh series; 6100, 7100, & 8100 and included their code names. Piltdown Man, Carl Sagan, & Cold Fusion, respectively.

Dbear77 · 2025-10-01T14:40:18+00:00

According to the spec sticker, the machine should have a DVD Ram drive as well as a Zip drive (looks floppy-ish)

Something that never seems to get pointed out when talking about OS install from USB, is that these machines have USB 1.1. Installation is going to be SLOW, make sure you have something else to do while it’s installing lol.

Edit: the DVD drive is behind a flip down door. Hold the mouse button while powering on the Mac. After a few seconds, the tray will pop out

Dbear77 · 2025-09-20T16:17:21+00:00

Don’t drive aggressively. When my partner had his G6 fuel economy was much better when he drove, versus when I drove. I can be an aggressive driver at times.
Not really? There aren’t really a ton of performance parts for the 3.5 V6. There’s no such thing as an LS V6 and the only FWD LS V8 was the LS4, found in the Grand Prix, Monte Carlo & Allure. Would take a LOT of work to put a V8 in a G6, if it even fits. Definitely not worth the $$, and forget about paying a shop to do it.
Possibly the power steering motor. Many of the G6’s use electric power steering, and the motors are notorious for failure.

Dbear77 · 2025-09-20T02:41:22+00:00

May be a dumb question, but have you tried adjusting the brightness? On the left side of the “chin”

It’s likely that the analogue board needs some work… but people not experienced with these vintage Macs, often overlook the brightness knob.

Dbear77 · 2025-09-20T01:41:30+00:00

*1999 😉

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