1977 Bay Window hightop

Had a few hours on the bus today. I've had to call it a night around dinner time as I just couldn't get the engine to split from the gearbox. Here's what I've done:

Jacked up the back and put on axle stands

Removed battery

Removed the front tin

Removed fuel hoses

Removed wiring and labelled up

Removed coil

Disconnected throttle cable

Disconnected heater flap cable

Removed heater ducts

Supported gearbox

Removed 2 lower engine to gearbox nuts

Removed bumper

Drained oil

Removed engine crossmember bolts

Removed the offside engine to gearbox bolt

Removed another bolt that I 'think' was the nearside engine to gearbox bolt

Removed starter motor bolt





I can see the engine and bell housing are apart slightly at the bottom but I feel like I mustn't have the top ones out? Maybe I've removed the wrong ones? I just can't get the 2 to split. Although for the bell housing and engine to be slightly apart (just a couple of mm) surely the top ones must be out? I have the gearbox supported and the engine on a hydraulic jack on wheels with wood under the sump area.

Can anyone think what I might be doing wrong?

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How do you access the top 2 transmission bolts?

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Hard to see where your jack is - it should be roughly where the sump plate is.
You do not need to support the gearbox.

15mm socket above the gearbox, but why?

 

Yes that's where the jack is under. I was just following the Haynes manual in terms of supporting the gearbox.

I believe I have all of the gearbox bolts out then - I'm going by feel from underneath as I can't see them.
Any advice for splitting the engine and gearbox? In pulling and rocking it like mad and they just aren't coming apart! That's why I thought perhaps I haven't removed the correct bolts at the top

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There are 2 nuts on studs at the bottom, the starter bolt you reach around the fan housing to get the nut off, and what should be a bolt into a threaded insert in the equivalent position on the other side (accessed from the gearbox side. All 17mm.
After that it's a case of inching the jack up and down to find the sweet spot - if yours is coming apart only at the bottom, let the jack down very slowly until top and bottom are parting more equally.
Haynes is dumb on the gearbox supporting which only applies to early bays.

 

@Zed thanks for your help - I'll be having another tinker tonight.

So I need to fit strengthening plates under the floor for the minibus seat that I'm installing but my bus has belly pans installed. I'm thinking I'll have to cut them off to do this - can I leave them off or are they structural in some way? I know that they weren't fitted to all buses

 

I'd say you need to keep them in place. They were typically fitted to twin slider vans, high tops and those with big holes cut in the roof for a pop top to help stiffen up the van.

 

Ah ok - that makes sense as I have a hightop. I guess I'll have to cut them out and weld them back in once I've fitted the strengthening plates

 

Got the tank out - completely forgot to unplug the sender wires

Can any one identify the wires in this picture to make it a bit easier to put it all back together please?

The one at top is earthed to the body and the one near the filter tube is coming from a grommit


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The grommet one leads to the fuel gauge from the insulated connector on the sender. The join near the grommet is factory, can't see on your photo, there should be one of those single vw connectors. The earthed wire on the earth terminal. IIRC it's obvious which is which.

 

Perfect - thank you

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Tank off and drained.

The outlet was blocked with this material - almost the consistency of thin vinyl gloves but easier to snap. It was in the outlet pipe and blocking the end. Unfortunately, the outlet pipe snapped off

Now - looking in the tank, I was very surprised to see the condition. Looks mint! There is a bit around the outlet (inside the tank) that looks funny. I'm suspecting that this tank has been sealed in the past, and this is a bit of the sealant that's pulled away. What do you think?

I can get the pipe repaired easy enough. I'm just wondering if the Por 15 kit (metal etching rust nuetraliser prep and industrial strength cleaner) will remove the old sealant (if it is old sealant). Or do I need to cut my losses and fork out £300 for a new tank. Could it even just be a piece of something that's fallen in?

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I vote something fell in, it looks too good to have been treated.

 

How are you going to easily repair the outlet pipe?

I found them to be a bit of a bstard to do well.

 

Wouldnt it be better to seal up the original and form a new outlet?

 

I’m surprised nobody is making plastic replacement tanks yet
An extra capacity one would be nice

 

Does the area around the outlet look normal to you? That's the bit I'm a little suspicious about. If so it's great - I'll get £100 back for the Por 15!


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My mate should be able to braze it - we'll see.

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This might be a great idea

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So we're going to put a bolt in the lathe and drill through it. This will form the new outlet and will allow us to bolt it tight to the tank. It won't be an elbow but that won't matter


Unwin tracks

So I've got a minibus seat with integrated seatbelt and a pair of unwin rails. I'm going to have the unwin rails on the floor itself and cut into the plywood sub floor to sink them in. I'm just looking at the best option for underneath. The rails don't line up perfectly with the high points of the corrugated floor, they're just slightly off.

There are spreader plates available - the pic is from the internet. Before I get stuck in - does anyone have experience of using these?