So, the story goes that I have wanted a t2 my whole life and never managed to be in a position to have one. My obsession started 25 years ago when my dad bought his splitty and I spent most weekends of my childhood either at a vw show collecting parts or passing him spanners. As I got older I went through many a vee-dub including a fastback, a few bugs and a couple of t25s but they were never really what I wanted. Then last week I managed to get my first bay. The van is a bog standard 1973 devon which appears to be solid in the right places. It will need a little bit of bodywork here and there but is perfectly use able. The van has been off the road for 3 years so my first Job is going to be to get the engine out to give it the once over and strip and rebuild the brakes. I am lucky to have the luxury of a ramp at my dad's garage so we will make a start and see where we end up. I shall try and keep this thread updated as I go and hopefully won't annoy you all with stupid questions along the way. Gary
I certainly do. My daughter and I seemed to spend most of the summer camping or going to shows. She loves it.
Its been a busy couple of days. I started off by taking the engine out which I decided to strip down as far as the cylinder heads as there were lots of bits I wanted to change as I don't think it was put together very well. I then decided that whilst it was up on the ramps I would take the opertunity to check the rear brakes over, good job I did as they were shot (one of the back plates was so bad the wheel cylinder was almost hanging off). So I decided to completely remove the rear brakes to renew it all. It then seemed to make sense whilst I had got that far to change the wheel bearings. It then seemed logical to remove the spring plates to inspect the doughnuts, they too needed changing. The next thing I wanted to check were the cv joints, yep, you guessed it... they were shot. So by the end of today the rear end is almost completely stripped down. I think I may remove the gearbox next so I can change all the bushes in the gear linkage. I'm working on the theory of do it right the first time and it should last a while. I have a fairly long shopping list now so I'm ready for next weekend.
It's not the best picture but you get the gist. On a plus point all the tinware was in great condition and proper German metal! So they will be off for blasting and powder coating next week.
So, I've had another few days working on the van. First off I decided to remove the gearbox so I could renew all the linkage bush's. I figured I've come this far I may aswell go the extra mile. I've now changed the wheel bearings and torsion bar bush's. Everything was then decreased and painted before putting it all back together. The brakes are now all back together both sides with new brake pipes fitted and the new shocks are on. Next week's jobs will be to get the linkage sorted and the gearbox back in the van. Then I just need to finish the engine, check the front brakes and I'm back on the road and all sorted mechanically.
To be honest I'm in a pretty favourable position. My dad has been restoring vws his whole life and he is guiding me during the work. I'm also lucky that he has a 2 post lift that I can use so it makes life a lot easier. To be honest it's not too difficult. I had never picked up a spanner until I bought my t25 a few years back. I just bought a Haynes manual and tried to work through everything methodically.
It been another busy week so far. I have managed to tick a fair few jobs off the long list of things to do 1) rebuilt the drive shafts 2) re-newed the gear linkage 3) changed the accelerator and heater control cables 4) got the gearbox back in and the drive shafts on As well as this I have very nearly got the engine finished. It's all built up but when I fired it up on the test-bed I wasn't happy with the carb. As mentioned earlier in my thread I have changed from an aftermarket carb to an original carb. Unfortunately the one I put on was a bit of an unknown and it looks like it will need rebuilding. Other than that it's been a pretty productive week. The only down side has been finding out the roof leaks. However, I shall keep plodding along and the van should be back on the road very soon and driving as good as new. The pipe hanging down is the new fuel pipe. Its connected to the fuel tank and awaiting the engine being put in.
It makes life so much easier. I remember taking the water cooled engine out my t25 on my drive. Never again!!
Another busy weekend, however it feels like 2 steps forward and 3 steps back. This week I have completed the following. 1) engine back in, connected up and running. 2) heater cables connected to the heat exchanger flaps (what an absolute pig of a job) 3) rewire the electrics in the engine bay 4) remove front wheels to inspect brakes (this is where it started going wrong). The problems this week started with the electrics in the engine bay which were so awful I'm amazed it didn't catch fire. All offending wires have been traced back and rewired with the correct grade of wire (and not flimsy underrated wiring some pilok used in the past). Then just when I thought I was on the home straight I thought I had better inspect the front brakes as the wheels felt very stiff. This flagged up more issues, one side appeared to be letting by past the piston and the other caliper was seized. Both looked poor, as did the disks. Whilst inspecting the front end I also noticed a leak from the steering damper. I'm starting to think the van has had a moody MOT!! Anyway, I will be ordering a front brake rebuild kit and steering damper and that should be me mechanically sound for a good long while. And you can't put a price on knowing your brakes are completely rebuilt and safe. I hope my wife never finds the receipts for the money I've spent in the last couple of months
Another busy night in the workshop and the front brakes are now sorted Tomorrow's jobs are to bleed the brakes, give everything the once over and then take the old girl for a drive and see if all the hard work has been worthwhile