Paul the '73 tintop!

Oooo the chassis is rusty!
You know you need to have steel tubes built inside the chassis legs for the engine hanger bolts? Otherwise they crush the chassis.

 

good olde rustworm....

bon courage...

 

cheers zed, yeah i saw the remainder of those but didnt know if they were 100% necessary, so hadnt fabbed them up because i was trying to save time.
silly me! i will get them in there within the next couple of days

on that note, do you know if the bus would pass its MOT if i just left the engine support bar off for the time being?
as im really pushing my deadline now, as unforseen circumstances have meant i havent yet got to my bus this week
and now have someone coming over at midday tomorrow, so wont be able to get much done as its a 2 hour commute (each way!) to where my bus is hiding!!
public transport is balls

managed to find the right wiring diagram for my hazards now, thanks to all involved there, and a few more bitbobs for him have appeared so i think im on target (just!)

as always, thanks for the encouragement guys sometimes when your on your back in the rain with CV grease in your mouth its needed! haha
many more pics will be following soon as i got a new phone today (AT LAST!) so this wont be the last you here of me..

 

I'd expect it to fail, have you not welded the new chassis leg sections in yet?? As the mount bar is the least of your worries if there's nothing to mount it to!

 

okay thanks, i was kinda hoping you wouldnt say that!
i think my hopes of getting it done for the show are pretty much gone now, had a pretty bad week

 

unfortunately todays update will include much less progress than some, and some might say i have gone backwards somewhat...

went to start building up the engine that i got off ebay ready to chuck it in, and realised one of the heads was cracked.
its not a substantial crack, and given its placement im not sure if it would make any difference whatsoever,
but decided to change the head for one of the spares i have lying around.. and found this..



LOTS of rusty water water in my cylinders..
so... i have questions for you lovely people today....

i have removed all the cylinders and pistons now, and the big end bearings seem fine, theres no end float,
theres no movement there shouldnt be, dropped the oil and didnt find anything that seemed untoward in there,
so i have concluded that the everything before you get to the pistons is ok (please tell me if i am being naive here..)

and my plan, is to rebuild it using the top end (pistons/cylinders/heads etc.) off my old engine,
but with new piston rings/pushrod tubes/head studs. anyone see any reason that wouldnt work?
(the long double ended bolts that hold the head to the block.. head studs??)
that engine was died because the big end on cylinder 1 went. (long before i bought my bus it would seem)

today i went to put in my empi short shift thing (for the bottom of the gear stick, you know the ones im sure)
and took up my carpet/floor mat to find some more rust, and more welding for me to do..



its not as bad on the other side, but does still need patching up.
and to top that all off, i only got to here with fitting the shift plate anyway!!




due to the fact that whatever i tried, mole grips, soaked it in WD, gave it MUCHO abuse,
i can not get my gear knob off!!! and it says you need to to put the fulcrum ball on

on a happier note though, after giving it a rub over with a rag to get all the grime off it, i found that some of my tinware was chrome!
so that was a bonus...






if anyone has any thoughts about my engine issues, i would love to hear them!!

 

Good plan for the engine. I did the same and it turned out lovely. I did split it and replace all the bearings though.

 

thanks zed! that was really the response i was hoping for!!
im not sure i want to split it just yet, as im pretty sure the internals are okay.

but i do plan on splitting the old engine to replace the bearings that went in that so i can learn
rather than risk messing up the engine i need to use!

 

could anyone tell me if these are the rings i need to use for the standard engine set-up?
ive forgotten what size they are supposed to be. cheers

http://www.justkampers.com/vw-t2-ba...1969-1998-and-1600cc-vw-t2-bay-1967-1979.html

 

Clean the top of a piston to double check the size which is stamped on it. It could be 1641?

 

okay, thanks i will do that. whats the easiest way to get the carbon deposits off?

 

Lick them.

 

well thats breakfast sorted!

 

Looks like someone had tried to do a rare water cooled conversion on the engine.

As said though clean, inspect and measure everything to work out where your're at, and hopefully you'll be able to salvage something useable.

Use some emery cloth/wire wool/sandpaper to clean the pistons up.

Looks like this thread needs moving to the Restorations board!

 

oh! have i posted it in the wrong place?
if so i apologise, and if a mod would kindly move it, that would be great.

cheers kruger i will do that

 

Nice to see you're working hard Jayk, good work fella

I'm sure a nice mod dog will move your thread over to resto when they see it.

 

there is no point spending time and money on an engine that could be knackered. with the engine already partially stripped it wont take much to get it apart and check it. a set of bearings and maybe even a re-grind now is better than it going bang again after a few miles.
good luck with the resto

 

i see your point aussie, but im not really spending any money apart from a few quid for piston rings, i already have everything else.
and then there is the fact i havent yet split a crankcase, and dont want to risk screwing it up.
im sure im putting the task on a massive pedestal and once its done i will wonder what i was worried about,
but im also on a tight deadline if i want to get to the show i want to be at in a couple weeks.

and there is also the fact that i have no idea about getting the case machined if it did need it, (which im pretty sure it doesnt),
but i dont know who near me could do it, how much it would cost, how long it would take, how i would even establish that it needed it once it was apart etc..
and the fact i dont have the money to get it done now even if i did..

so i think im just going to fit it all back together using the good bits, and split the crankcase of my old engine to replace the knackered bearings in there,
so i can learn how the internals work while my bus is running.

 

oh and, on another update, got this through the post from a nice chap in Portugal today





hmm, those pics are pretty good for a phone camera in a pretty dark room.. happy days..
now just hoping noones going to turn around and tell me its the wrong one!! haha.
but its another step in the MOT-shaped direction for Paul!

 

and in one foul swoop, all hope is gone of finishing the bus before christmas..

took my cylinders/pistons off the old engine to put on the new one, and found the cause of that knock...!!



so i think its pretty safe to say i wont be using this!!
and, the other set of barrels/pistons i have are bigger than standard it appears, and has a couple of knackered cylinders..

leaving me a set of standard barrels, but with shagged pistons,
and a set of oversize pistons, with shagged barrels.
so i dug out another old set of standard ones, which apparently somehow have got went since i boxed them away at christmas,
and are corroded on the inside of the barrels, making them also unusable.

cant make heads or tails of my damn wiring either to do my hazard switch,
spent AGES tracing wires back/studying the diagrams/removing loads of wires that dont go anywhere,
and in true VW style, its all wrong!! not to mention the flasher relay that has a certain 'blue oval' badge on it,
so the labels for the connections on bottom arent the same, and the fact the wires from the stalk have been cut, so i will have to take that apart...etc

and to top off my day, i noticed that some t*at has hit my bus in the carpark at some point since friday.
and kindly shown me just how much filler is on my rear arch by cracking it, and leaving me with a lovely dent.



so thanks for that, i hope you burn in hell.

all in all, a pretty rough day in the kona camp...