Ah, you keep surprising me posting here Dunc! Looks sweet mate! I just thought I should retain a bit of the oranje somewhere and inside the tank bay seemed like a good place. The paint is immaculate in there and it’ll never be seen so... I’ll post something in the next day or so on my glacial-paced engine refresh. Neptune Blue is such a belting colour.
Latest pic of my bus from Duncan @SundialCamperSpecialists - all getting very exciting (for me). I think it looks superb. The wheels will be getting chucked and replaced with the ones on my 79 which were powder coated a few years back. Looking at it like this makes me realise how much I have still to do in my 1/2 day a week I get to potter. My engine is still in a thousand bits and I've got boxes of stuff all over the show. At the same time, it's so far along toward being complete, I can't believe it's mine. Mad how attached we get to inanimate objects isn't it? This bus keeps me awake, eats all my money and is forcing me into doing things I never really wanted to tackle. Ah well, all good fun and I'm not harming anybody so, onwards and buswards...
Cheers, yeah, he's gonna do that for me - it'll be squeaking its way over! I'll aim to keep it topped up on a regular basis
Things have been a bit stop/start on the bus recently. After partially destroying one of the heads trying to get a tinware screw out, I discovered that the other one had destroyed itself. I wonder why there’s all that black stuff round that spark plug? Oh. So, new heads all round. I then - bravely for me - decided to change the piston rings. Wasn’t too bad in the end but removing the cylinders was a ‘mare. Number 4 took me an hour and 20 of careful prying to get it off. I enjoyed every second as you might imagine. Anyway, they’re finally done and I can move on. View attachment 98366 ive managed to break a few other things - like the fuel tank nozzle and the original fuel filler rubbers were hilarious. ive also unblocked the intake manifold and can now blow a G# through it, had the carb polished and rebuilt that and trial fitted one of the new heads. So ticked a few things off but loads still to do. Best news is that the 73 shell arrives back tomorrow with its new coat. Can’t wait!
Neptune Blue was definitely the right decision. Thanks to Duncan @SundialCamperSpecialists for a splendid job no excuses now - gulp...
Today’s labours had me fitting the new heads and a few other bits and bobs. They went on fine and thankfully took a full torque. As both heads are new, I’m anticipating having to check the torque after they’re run in for a few 100 miles. If anybody can confirm, that’d be great. Coming together slowly but at least I’m at the stage of putting things back on now.
Ha, indeed. There isn’t a colour I don’t like really, apart from fagnolia. I think I read once that French people think green cars are unlucky: something to do with the double v of voiture vert - apols to francophones for any spelling mishtakes. A mate had a green Corrado which was plagued with issues. His mechanic sent him a Christmas card he got to know him that well. But he wasn’t French. And nor am I so it’s ok
Rebuilt most of the motor today. Massive phaff with the main seal which I won’t bore you with. Took ages anyway and I reckon I’ll be doing it again in the not too distant. End float was within tolerance which was nice to learn. Put the clutch back on with a new disc. And I need to go back and torque stuff down as I ran out of time. All this just to do 50mph with no heat! I’d put a Tesla motor in it in a heartbeat if I had thirty grand knocking around. Not to smoke the tyres like that crew cab you’ll have seen, but the zero maintenance, zero emissions and free power is a no brainer. Also started to look at the meaningless jumble of wires which passes for the wiring loom - I’ve printed the diagram out and have noticed occasional matches to reality. I think I’m going to go for the process of elimination method! anyway, a few more things ticked off
More inching toward resolution this week where I’ve been playing with the gearbox and electrical stuff. As detailed elsewhere on the forum, I’ve had a bit of a phaff with the pivot ball inside the nose cone. Basically, the replacement I bought didn’t fit until @mikedjames loaned me some logic and I made it fit. It went on dead easy once it behaved as it was supposed to. Not a hard job at all. I did the standard before and after shot on the magnetic drain plug and confirmed I quite like the smell of trans oil. On the electrics, it’s all a bit bewildering as it doesn’t seem to reflect the wiring diagram - feel a bit like Medusa’s hair dresser but did get the front lamps and indicators on. Oh, and the fuse box installed. Other things I’ve noticed is that I tend toward the Haynes over the Bentley as I find the written descriptions much clearer. There’s still a fair bit of assumed knowledge though. I find it a bit like that cake off tv show where they get a one line instruction to make a specific thing to test their understanding. I need more billy basic at times and find Ratwell and the vw-resource site invaluable - if only ratwell had a type 1 engine
Hiya folks, long time, no post. Lockdown #10 robbed all my bus time since before Xmas but I’ve finally had a bit of time to potter, scratch my head, have the Bentley, Haynes and youtube on to double-check every screw removal / insertion - I’m joking- kind of. I’ve managed to lob a bit of sound deadening on, fit my new tank, do the breathers and begin positioning the controls from the 79 to the 73. I’ve learnt that the handbrake assembly below the floor is different as is the front gear selector rod. On the 73, the gear rod has a different front end on - it doesn’t have the large circular front bush (ooh er) just a tiny little one which slides over a rod in the bodywork (sigh). I’m not sure if my 73 handbrake is an early type - with the cable adjusters poking into the cab - or something else. If you know, you could let me know y’know. anyways, here’s some riveting photos...
Knocked off a few jobs today like got the petrol tank connector finally connected. The aftermarket rubber was short by about 20mm. I wasn’t convinced of the grip it had on the very end of the filler pipe. So I cut a piece of the 79 filler tube to extend it. Seems ok. Also added some sound deadening to the n/s door, installed the steering column with ignition switch/ housing and the wiper / indicator stalks. What else? Erm, oh, fitted the deck lid seal, scraped out crud from the cv joint housing at the wheel end, fitted new brake light switches to the master cylinder and a new ground strap to the gearbox among with the Bowden tube thing. Oh, and, fitted the battery ground connector, the rear side markers and the fuel sender earth. Sounds loads when you write it all down. Keeping chipping away.
I think it came from vwh. I was all set to return it but then asked for measurements found out that all the others were actually shorter. The one I got was 410mm around the long side. It did reach but was just a bit too short for my paranoia level. I’ve put a new tank in so that might well be the reason it needs to be a wee bit longer…
Toiled but achieved little today. Discovered I have early or xover steering knuckles so my late callipers don’t fit. Failed to swap the 79 knuckles onto the 73 in a bid to avoid having to find NLA callipers. Still, it’s progress of a kind I guess. The roof of my 79 departed and I removed the front screen to make myself feel like I’d made a bit of progress. The remaining shell will be away at the weekend. Still, sprayed a shower of stone chip at the disc backing plate which was a good result
The task of plodding on has been continuing… as documented elsewhere on here, my 79 doner bus departed and I wrestled with the front gear shift rod a fair bit. Still not convinced but we’ll see. I decided to throw in the towel on the electrics having looked at the wiring diagram for months and it having some major differences to the loom. So, I paid someone to do it and it was done in a day. It’s now alive, ALIVE! I have also been blessed with some additional assistance on my windows and have some of them fitted - a real boost. Managed to do a few more bits today, fitted the callipers and painted the back plates, finished the sound deadening, fitted the handbrake connector and put the tailgate seal in. Easy the most enjoyable job I’ve done I think. It went in so nicely. Reckon I could hold down a successful career doing them. The end ain’t in sight yet but it does feel like the project has made some strides.
