Blue to tango resto

Discussion in 'Restorations' started by D5andy, May 6, 2013.

  1. Flakey

    Flakey Supporter

    Excellent, just need a pic of the finished bus now
     
    D5andy likes this.
  2. It's a race now to get the interior silent coated - insulated and furniture back in
    Have to try and camp at least once this year lol
     
  3. You've got nearly 8 weeks left then. Good luck.;)
     
  4. Yep definitely doable - if I don't over think it... the rock roll bed covers are well past there best is a question of whether I should bite the bullet now or get a little use first
     
  5. Heres some pictures of the underside from the MOT station - not often I get a comfortable view of my efforts - I think that the epoxy mastic is holding out pretty well at 2yrs (admittedly it hasn't had to contend with road salts and grit).

    Front belly pan area:-
    [​IMG]

    Middle sills:-
    [​IMG]

    Engine gearbox no leaks there (touch forelock):-
    [​IMG]

    So now I have ticket ... I moved onto returning the vehicle to practical usage for the three of us...

    Which means adding seating in the rear and safety features like:-
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Rear rock and roller in
    [​IMG]

    Today we are all off out in the rain and the gales in the bus !! lets hope we don't get blown over...
     
    zed likes this.
  6. The first drive went well we headed over to wickes and the up to local beauty spot newlands corner.
    Which is up a nice hill the bus pulled nicely in third
    I made sure to work the pistons following a run in procedure - 25->45 in third up and down a few times

    On the way back though I heard a intermittent howling noise when idling at the lights. I think the fan belt is a good tad tight and is tugging on the alternator bearings.
    Of maybe the flywheel has worked it self loose :eek: I hope not. I'll try the easy fix first...
    So I need to move some washers about - also I noticed oil coming from the rear bearing (behind the pulley)
    Fearing the worst I checked the oil level and it was over the full mark. I think I over filled so that's probably the cause of that. I'll probably drop the oil in a couple hundred miles as I want to flush any more swarf that might have accumulated.

    All in all I feel confident in the motor it didn't miss a beat no popping or back firing and everything felt good and tight
     
    paul2590 likes this.
  7. All sounds pretty amazing , hope you treated yourself to bacon butty at Newlands Corner
     
    D5andy likes this.
  8. Today was another bus day I have been taking some time off lately to get things completed - empty the house of all the camper bits

    Going to put the front tub rubber mats under the seats but before I do I wanted to clean up the paint work and put a dash of epoxy mastic on.

    Ucky before:
    [​IMG]
    Rubbed down:
    [​IMG]
    Mastically done:
    [​IMG]

    I am going to give it 24hrs and then lay some silent coat down and put the rubbers on top (I think I saw someone else do something similar on here so must be right)

    Also adjusted the clutch again as I was able to take it out of gear with the pedal all the way up :eek: now there is a good amount of resistance

    Going to post in mech tech about my howling alternator (I am pretty sure thats what it is)


    Above is a clip - it can go ages without making the noise - ho humm
     
  9. So after working out that the noise was the alternator fan plate thingie - I decided to avoid fixing it for a while and do something else
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Then I decided that the rust around the brake top up reservoir needed attention too so proceeded to rub it down and get it ready for painting with the epoxy mastic.
    I cleaned the area up with that por-15 "marine clean" and "prep and ready" stuff to eat the rust - which worked pretty well when combined with sanding.
    During:-
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]


    Then I slopped on some epoxy (literally):-
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Now I can stick the rubber side bits on and forget about the rusty bits I swallowed up in gloop :thumbsup:
     
    Zebedee likes this.
  10. You could have stuck some masking tape on that brake reservoir. :rolleyes:

    Stick some silentcoat on the inside of that panel (the one the brake reservoir is hiding in) as it forms part of the wheel well under the arch.
     
    D5andy likes this.
  11. Yep thats the plan (the silent coat bit too late for the brake reservoir lol)
     
  12. Ok Been a while since updates but I have been busy promise ;]

    decided to remove all the insulation in the roof void with Low-E Van Lining Insulation – High Performance Reflective Foil - which I bought from:-
    http://camperessentials.co.uk/shop/low-e-van-lining-insulation-high-performance-reflective-foil/

    I bought enough to do the roof van sides and the floor underneath the rear seat over the wheel arches upto the parcel shelf bit - infact I bought so much I ended up doubling up in the roof and van sides

    First layer
    [​IMG]

    Second layer:
    [​IMG]

    Sliding door:
    [​IMG]
    https://www.dropbox.com/s/e8tsmb5k3tl60bn/IMG_20151125_091059604.jpg?dl=0

    And there is proof that rust doesn't sleep:-
    [​IMG]

    From the other side (inside once insulation removed) it all looks clear and fine:-
    [​IMG]

    Looks like the beast was woken when the gutters where basically bare metaled -> so I sprayed dinitrol from the inside to see if it penetrates through - so far though no sign of the wax (2 days) although it has been chilly

    However this bit looks like we didn't get enough paint on it (passenger side door gutter)
    [​IMG][​IMG]

    In addition to the above I have been fiddling with the carb setup

    I struggled to get the full movement of the cable and also the cable seemed to long but I discovered that an extra bit of metal had been bolted onto the accelerator pedal linkage arm underneath - once I took that off instant improvement in length and action woot woot!
    [​IMG]

    I am finding however it difficult to get the idle just right - I think the spring is a bit feeble on the carb arm and it doesn't return as far as it could
    Sometime is goes back further than other and so I have no idea what point to set the fast idle screw to - I am going to post something in mech tech... I think
    It could also be that the cable is a bit kinked or sticking (from my numerous attempts to get a better)
    Could also be air leaks - but I haven't experienced any other symptoms of airleaks (popping and farting)
    So am inclined to think that the carb spring needs juicing up

    So sometime in the few days I am back off to my painter to look at the gutters - as I remember they had been contaminated with that rustoleum which is practically impossible to paint over without getting a reaction (due to there being silicon or some such in it)
     
  13. Gosh its been a while - but I have been busy..

    Martyn who did the painting sorted the bits that had bled through.

    I think part of the cause might have been a weeping rubber bung on the rear roof rack where it screws into the roof - so I used some sikaflex 512 sealant which is used on campers and caravans as an adhesive - so far so good no more leaks. And I finally attached the canvas to the roof.

    I decided that the original floor was kapput so I got a carpenter friend to use it as a template and cut me another out of birch ply (to match the rest of the interior panels).

    [​IMG]

    Then I refitted the rest of the westy contintental interior jeez its pretty compact and bijou in there.

    [​IMG]

    I rebuilt the front door cards using the old vinyl I'll put up some pictures when I get a moment.

    Next up was the accelerator pedal mechanism, the pin was pretty worn out and the hinge gave out too:

    [​IMG]

    So I replaced that lot and bolted it down rather than welding (as per advice from Fletch)

    I had lots more fun with the carb - I just couldn't get the pedal mech to pull the cable back far enough to get full throttle. When I did the arm wouldn't return far enough to idle because the throttle was still half open.
    So I compromised and got the idle right (we had a tunnel crossing booked and pragmatism won the day)

    So tada we went camping in Normandy:-

    [​IMG]

    We didn't go to far le crotoy, honflour, houlgate.. very pretty my first time in Normandy and me likey :)

    It was brave / foolish of us to do a foreign trip as our first outing but we survived. The only real difficulty we experienced was the starter - sometimes we would get lucky and it would fire up first time others I would have to roll underneath and touch between the points with a screwdriver and it would start working again.

    Also being flagged down on the motorway was interesting as the rear tyres where doing an impression of a yoyo. Seems that the rear dampeners had gone soggy.

    So I've replaced the dampeners myself and rubbed down all the earths again and things seem good!

    I also replaced the entire pedal mechanism with one of buttys' bits - and the difference was amazing. The angle of the pedal to arm was much better on buttys - so now I get the full throttle - so perhaps I won't be quite so ponderous.
     
    madpad and MorkC68 like this.
  14. First update for a while - been just soo busy using it! :hattip:

    We had another camping holiday in france and made it as far as la rochelle.
    [​IMG]

    handy for meals on the go...

    [​IMG]
    ^ The awning above we were using as a tent garage for the last 6months while our actual garage was being rebuilt.. held up pretty well through the winter months

    and more recently symonds yat for a weekend away:
    [​IMG]
    ^ we tried out a new awning but it proved to be made of tissue paper so we took it back after the weekend away - it was an easy camp brooklands - fairly good size and stuff but the seams weren't up to scratch

    Its now nearly MOT time pretty sure it will sail through.. particularly as I have been using it and finishing up the remaining jobs in between

    Pretty early on in the summer after numerous attempts to adjust the fan housing the alternator bearing shredded themselves and after I replaced that the mysterious noise that had been plaguing me disappeared..

    After the la rochelle holiday I had the intuition to strip down the fuel pump and found that it had total'd itself - so I replaced that with a more robust unit
    The trigger had been when trundling along the dual carriageways at 50 for more than an hour the engine would start to get quite hot - not too severe but a concern. Also a number of time I couldn't persuade it to start after a long run (no fuel coming through) which could have been the float valve in the carb but I'd already eliminated that at the road side....

    The starter motor carried on playing up the la rochelle holiday. So I patched a switch into the engine bay so I could turn it over without rolling underneath with a screwdriver. Once I got home I replaced the gearbox and battery earth straps and the problem has finally been cured.

    While I was at it I replaced my el'cheapo spark plug cables with bosch ones - which seemed to improve the general running of the motor

    Since then I have been fashioning some rear mud flap brackets from some 1mm sheet metal I had lying aound (I bought the mud flaps 4 years ago before I even knew they needed brackets) - next up I will be repeating the task for the front mud flaps.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I also wired in the leisure battery which I brought back from the dead with my zig cf9 again which I bought many moons ago wiring the whole lot in ... I also copied the small consumer unit trick detailed here http://thelatebay.com/index.php?threads/building-in-a-battery-charger.56704/ and added a live hook up finish it off.

    Considering putting in a Propex heater (as I would like to extend the camping season as far as possible) with refillable LPG tank, though I can't decide whether to do underslung or sling them under the buddy / rear seats I like the accessibility of them being in the bus - but then having them underneath would also be good as we wouldn't lose precious space.. another stumbling block is the price of this kit... I can't see getting much change from £800 but given our camping experiences I don't want to rely on hook up as most of the time we've struggled to get pitches with leccy especially when we are just rocking up at the last moment. Lots of info on propex on this site so I will just have to make up my mind:thinking:

    Another one I thinking about is one of the flexible solar panels 100w jobbie to keep the leisure battery topped up - I've seen what bus monkey has done and I am very envious :D

    Think I'll probably drop engine and check the heads over winter as I think they got pretty hot when the fuel pump destroyed itself.

    Oh yes and I really need to underseal before the grit and salt trucks roll out... hopefully at some point I hope to attend a tech enders session and get some advice on various bits and pieces

    I also need to get down to the local surrey vw club in esher
     
  15. Ok six months on..

    I spent on my beans on a propex set up with an extra tank in the wardrobe

    However the wife finds it too noisy[​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG]

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    Coco likes this.
  16. As mentioned the fuel pump destroyed it's self and so I was going to drop the engine to take a look at the heads

    Before that I did a compression check 3&4 were fine 125psi 1&2 were 110psi

    Also the spark plugs were kind of wobbly when I took them out

    So engine out heads off... I could see that I hadn't seated the plugs in 1&2 deep enough and that the thread was now gunked up
    So I cleaned up the threads but still they were wobbly all the way up to the point were they got tight. Also 1 had cracks leading toward the valves

    Also I had noticed that the tappets had very little adjustment - a sign that the valves were sinking into the head

    I think that they had had too many heat cycles and have gone soft - I should have replaced them when I rebuilt the engine :(

    So I opted to pop it all back together and hope that it would hold together for out bank holiday trip...



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    Lazy Andy likes this.
  17. We ended up getting a big yellow taxi ride home after throwing the spark plug on the M40 slip road by the m25
    I couldn't get the plug back in the thread was gawn[​IMG]

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  18. Back a base I tried helicoiling the head but when I bolted it up the exhaust valve had lost all adjustment
    So it was new heads time...

    [​IMG][​IMG]

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    Coco likes this.
  19. New empi heads better than I expected...

    [​IMG][​IMG][​IMG]

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  20. Dropbox changed their policy on public photos so I lost all my pics from earlier posts..

    Not sure how I'm going to put them back

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