First trip in the bus in 7 years - what have I forgotten?!

Guy in Leeds built it. Think he’s retired now but had a VW garage that I believe is still going with different owners. 81a in Southport then did some alterations for me and fitted it.

 

After which it was fine for how long/many miles?

 

Pff under 100 miles. Not a lot

 

During which I expect you were never really convinced by it?
Did they source the engine?
Who's idea was the carb?
Maybe you should be talking to 81A?
N0 more Q's this is like getting blood from a stone.

The tin hitting the fan wouldn't cause a loss of power BTW, but could be a small symptom of a more serious problem if the pully has moved towards the tin.

 

So the carb was pulled from my old engine as this one was built with twin carbs which 81a were struggling to get the tuning right. They’re getting them cleaned and re-jetted for me but was going to run and see whether it was worth fitting them or just selling them on depending on how this set up worked out. They didn’t source the engine tho, that was me.

Running wise it had been ok to be honest. Initially driving it home was stalling constantly but stopped and adjusted the idle speed and seemed fine after that.

Have to confess I’m not clued up on the mechanics of the van, the plan was to rectify that by taking apart and rebuilding the old engine while being able to actually use the van in the meanwhile. But maybe not the best plan with hindsight

 

We’re still away at the min but will be giving 81a a call when we get back!

 

Enjoy your break, bus will get fixed and this will be added to the long list of tales starting..."do you remember when...."?

 

But hopefully not "Do you remember when we broke down in..."

 

That was probably missing wiring going to the carb, so every time it idled once the choke warmed up, it stopped. Once drove 120 miles like that. Roundabouts and traffic lights were a total pain .m

 

A rotten bit of luck hope your holiday went ok anyway, it may not seem it at the time but the break downs are part of the journey, no point buying a soulless T5 or T6 there’s no fun in that. Mine has an uncanny knack of faulting when I’m about 50 + miles from my unit despite my best efforts to check everything before I leave saved loads of petrol over the years.

 

120 miles, don’t envy you that!! Roundabouts where I didn’t have to fully stop I found it was jump starting itself and got going again. Only did about 10 miles like that though, was driving me nuts!

 

I like your positivity - I'd have kicked it to death by now

 

Wellll, over the years I'm reasonably sure there isn't a country we've visited in a bus that we haven't broken down in
England
Wales
France
Spain
Italy
Greece
Crete
Morocco
USA....all breakdown locations!
However, that exercise in reminiscence leaves Belgium, Monaco, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Croatia and Portugal off the list of breakdown memories..YAY.

 

Holiday has been good otherwise thanks. The campsite were really good about swapping us to an overflow tent pitch and until today the weather has been as good as Wales gets too The OH at one point suggested maybe we should get a caravan instead but I refuse to be beaten by a 40+ year old bus. Plus they’re too much fun when they actually work!

 

I take it you flew to Belgium, Monaco, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Croatia and Portugal then?

 

Sounds like Leon from Herbie Hospital down Harehills ??
I know he sold the business a few years ago but it was the only place in Leeds i`d take my van if it needed a serious looking at and they always had a good reputation - i never had any issues and i know they built good engines as most of the mates had one in ....
In a way i`m hoping its not Leon but if it is i`d like to think he`d do the right thing ...

Bugger , hoping you get it sorted and enjoy the rest of the summer ...

 

Lol, nope! I hesitated over Austria coz we didn't exactly breakdown, but we did have to stop regularly to free off a seized caliper...got quite good at it coz it's a bit hilly in places haha

 

Yeah, that’s him. He seemed like a good guy tbh, gave us a bit of advice when we were having trouble with the carbs but ran out of time to be fiddling hence sticking the old single carb back on before this fateful weekend! Will get in touch with him and 81a next week I imagine. Altho want to have another look once we’re back and see even with limited knowledge if we can see anything glaring!

 

If you are thinking of taking it back to the builder its probably best to leave it alone and keep it as it was handed over to you originally.