Winnie the Poo (update: volksworld)

All the cables should have those, the problem is in 6 months time the tat masquerading as the parts will have fallen apart. I've only ever seen one bus with them from new and it had been owned for 40 years by Lady Something or other, dry stored and used once a year in Cannes after her chauffer drove it there for her while she flew down and back. The rest of the year the chauffer kept it maintained ready for next year.

 

I'll have to have words with my chauffeur. ..

my bus is missing lots of these little parts/ seals etc. i guess i should have expected that when i bought it - PO put this together in a rush. I'm slowly getting there identifying/ sourcing / replacing stuff. those rubber bellows for the throttle cable conduit were 15 quid - for a tiny piece of rubber ffs!

 

Search ebay for them. I bought them for pennies.

 

...per year.

 

Just a quick update on a few things. Steering has been such a pain - original box almost siezed up it was so stiff, N2 engineering box is so much better, like silk lol. New rag joint fitted at the same time.. drag link had a load of play too, replaced that with a new one thinking with these changes i'd be sorted - but no - still cr&p ...ffs!. I have now change the pin and bushings in the beam as well.

I think.. THINK.. i now have it resolved . Need to put some proper miles on it to test fully but my short test run felt pretty good.

Also just fitted a CSP gear coupling and changed gear box oil. I've had the bus for 9 yrs now and i've not done the gear oil, so its likely well overdue for a change (i think maybe 25k miles?!). Much tighter change and soooper smoooooth didn't take any pics so here's one stolen from JK:




"These Urethan couplers are much stiffer compared to original rubber units. The urethane bushings are mounted free of play in the Shift coupler housing made of cast iron. A precisely manufactured solid pin connects the coupler to the shift rod. Will improve overall shifting characteristics. A worn gearbox coupling can often be the cause of a sloppy gearstick. If so, replace it with one of these quality couplings."

I'd replaced my og sloppy shifter coupling back in 2014 when i first got the bus. I had retained the original cast housing but replaced the pin with a suitable bolt and used the red empi poly bushes that were popular at the time - they were an improvement from what i had then but after 9 years it was getting sloppy. The CSP unit is really well made and the pin fits nice and tight. I can report its much better shifting, much more precise. For the 30 quid or so these go for it’s well worth changing.

 

Well worth the extra scene tax.

 

they weren't expensive mike, in fact, prob cheaper than buying some new ones. the horrible old repro's were so badly faded they looked rubbish.

 

I’ve been running an additional little silencer on the end of the pacesetter exhaust to see if I could make the bus a little quieter for the kids on longer trips. Tbh I don’t think it makes much difference and I’m starting to think it’s not a good idea given the additional weight added, plus it’s unsupported so will likely put additional stress on the tailpipe welds.

so, I took it off.. Replaced by a tail pipe I had in the garage from another project years ago that never got used. Is it too big? Possibly..

Adds horsepower? Maybe not but it’s definitely increased the ‘burble’

 

Looks the business though

 

I found that swapping the engine bay insulation for modern fireproof 30mm thick high density foam made a difference, along with putting some of the foam inside the tail gate.

 

pic from Sunday Scramble at Bicester Heritage a couple of days ago.

 

CSP shifter coupling. Wired up and with the rubber boot in place.

Surprised how much difference this has made. Well worth the efforts.

 

Bugger didnt know there should be a rubber boot there...

 

Main rear seal was replaced a few yrs ago but had started leaking again - looks like i have a groove on the flywheel that shouldn't be there (seal rubbing?) which is probably the cause of the leak. Anyway, new seal is in and nothing showing so far although i've only done 100 miles ish so far. It'll be another 140 or so this weekend to Volksworld show so i'll check again after that.

 

Volksworld 2024



Rich Coxhill photo

 

See, that’s what Sunday was missing - some cars around the parade ground!

 

Wow, just realised i missed the anniversary by a couple of weeks - 10 years owning this bay! Blimey.

Longest i've owned any vehicle.. and its still not finished lol