My Hi-Tops gonna be cool.. So Nyeuur. 8^)

Looming good.what size tyres are you running??

 

Excellent work

 

Hi Jimmy, not totally settled yet but I'm thinking of 185/65-14 on the front and something a lot bigger on the rear, somet like 215/70-14.. Reinforced maybe. I've got the extra weight of scooby lump and hi-top to consider.

 

Thanks for the reply. Is it the 185/65's that are fitted atm? I've currently got 185/80's and there far too big. Guessin going smaller on the rear will muck about with gear ratios tho?

 

Looking very nice! One question though. Is the high-top going back on?

 

Hi folks, yeah Jimmy, currently got 185/65-14's on all round. Hi Zed, yeah gonna be putting it back on. I really like it, only cos its a factory roundish one, not so keen on any other style of hi-tops on bays to be straight. Like the little louvre windows in it too. In fact I got a question, how will I go about refurbing these little louvres, d'ya reckon I'll just have to buy a Westy louvre recon kit and see if I can make somet out of it..?

 

Hi all, back with some pics of this weeks progress. My plan was to get the van ready for the next stage, with the supension and brakes finished so I can drop it off the spit permanently and finish the steering off. (The front mount for the body roller is bolted through the steering box mount holes preventing completion, box, drag link, column etc), I'm really chuft as I managed to get it to were I wanted. I spent hours earlier in the week trawling through lots of resto threads for some good pics of various brake line layouts with regards to the master cylinder ports. Something I expected to take minutes, couldn't find a defining route so just decided to go with what I suspect is correct. I was reading Mr Mears thread with the pencil sketches of different combinations or options. I decided to just go with the one pressure switch on the rear circuit and give each of the fronts an individual feed. I couldn't make my mind up wether to come out of the front or rear of the master cylinder for the fronts and rears, I referenced the underside of a pals van, (who's was still t-pieced for the fronts and had two switches in the master cylinder and one output for the rear, so thats four ports two switches), his rear feed came from the rear of the master cylinder (near the servo) and his front feed from the front of the master cylinder. So that settled it for me.. your thoughts on this would be appreciated chaps just to check if I'm not aware of something and have got it back to front.









Refitted rear brake compensator.




On with the brake pipes then...

 

Well thats it from me, gonna chill all weekend and get back on it next week. just remebered I've got my anti roll bar to fit.. went missing for two months, turned out I never collected it from the powder coaters. I'd lose ma nuts if they weren't in a bag..

 

Looking good dude

 

i hope mine ends up as well protected as this

 

very clean

 

Awesome job.

Can't wait for the engine installation

 

Hi all, long time no speakie, bin upto my eyeballs in life again, trouble at the mill leading to a 5 week suspension, all sorted now thankfully. Also lost my Mum to cancer on her birthday, she was only 63. It was a blow that stopped everything for quite a while. Glad to say we all on the mend now and ready to press on with the bus, which, I have finally named... June, after my sorely missed Mum. A lovely summery name for a lovely summery vehicle in a lovely summery colour after a lovely summery woman. God bless her cotton socks.
And so on with the blog. Hope you are all well and have been enjoying this Summer which I'm sure we can all agree has been a pretty good one so far, in terms of the weather. To be quite honest though I can't wait to see the back of 2013, its been a stinker. I have been dropping in here and there, mainly just lurking though.

One of the first things I want to bring to everyone's attention is a problem I came across with a servo I purchased from JK's. A bran spanking new 'Brazilian' one, I'd fitted it along with the master cylinder and pipes and then moved onto other things which will be detailed shortly. 12 months after purchase and fitment of the servo I was fitting the reservoir and gravity feed pipe to the master cylinder and gave the master cylinder a little wiggle to check I had tightened the two 13mm nuts securing the MC to the servo, the servo just sprang apart in two halves like an orange. Upon inspection it turned out that a complete engineering process had been skipped during manufacture. The two halves of the servo hadn't been 'peened' and were just about gripping each other with interference. Maybe it was Carnival that day and everyone at the factory knocked off early. Basically, if I didn't discover this problem at this point the servo would have split upon my first decent press of the pedal, pushing the MC away and leaving me with no brakes, a written off 3 year project and God only knows what could of befallen my family and I. A very serious matter indeed. JK were fine about it and instructed me to return the unit for inspection and promptly sent me a replacement. Be aware folks, this could've been my undoing!!! would've capped off a terrible year to be sure.
Another little hiccup to be aware of, after the purchase of JK doors at a whopping £833 for a pair with German seals I later purchased the better quality stainless steel door mirrors, also from JK. They don't fit the doors as the threaded portion of the mirror that screws into the captives in the doors isn't threaded far enough up the shaft making them impossible to fit, even without the little plastic washers. Again JK have been great about it and have just sent me a pair of the cheaper chrome mirrors FOC so I can transfer the threaded mount over to the stainless mirrors. Sure enough, the threaded portion runs further and they fit. Is slightly annoying though as most of you are aware, jobs hard enough as it is and time consuming too without sending parts backwards and forwards and dealing with uninterested couriers etc.

Anyways, enough ranting n whining, this is where I'm up to..
The old cab doors are slowly being restored and will be up for sale soon to return some funds in to the bus.







Had a little cheeky worm from the game "worms" airbrushed on the dash by ma good friend Zuf. I love ma computer games so just another little personal fun touch to the bus..





The main bit of mechanical that's been underway has been the purchase and fitment of the RJES conversion kit for the gearbox consisting of..
Machined hybrid bellhousing to fit Subaru EJ22 2.2cc to bay gearbox.
full hybrid clutch kit (Subaru pressure plate, friction plate which is half and half to retain VW first motion or 'input' shaft without modification, and a Subaru thrust bearing and kit to fit it to VW clutch fork).
Also had to buy a new clutch fork from RJES as my original was too slim for the conversion bellhousing bushings by about 5mm. I believe this is the difference between an early and late bay. I had already strengthened the thrust bearing mounts to the shaft with additional weld as suggested on the RJES website to take the extra force required for the clamping action of the Subaru pressure plate. But this was a waste of time as I discovered I needed a replacement 'thicker' shaft.

My original shaft, strengthened, pictured below. unfortunately I didn't take pics of the replacement from RJES before fitment but it can be seen further down the pics in the built up bellhousing. I've got to say, everything supplied by Richard Jones has been of very high quality in engineering terms and the tolerances are very snug indeed. I expect longevity from the excellent quality of his workmanship and the parts supplied.



The gearbox covered in Gunk awaiting a steam clean before powder coating. I didn't strip the box, just emptied it, plugged the holes, taped the shafts and dropped it off.



Back from the powder coaters. I then removed the original bellhousing, fitted the conversion and pressed on with some preventative checks and seal replacements.





Below I'm measuring the input shaft protrusion to check it is suitable for the conversion, It is..

 

The bellhousing and kit.





Subaru thrust bearing with adaptor plate to be fitted. the small locating clips from the original thrust VW thrust bearing, if in useable nick, are transferred over to the Subaru bearing/adaptor.









Replacement of selector shaft seal. very simple once I worked out that the brass bush which houses the seal just kinda pulls/twists off the selector shaft. Care needs to be taken here not to butcher the bush or the shaft.. A numpty of days gone by has already had some grips on mine. I just smoothed it out as best as I could and will monitor for leaks when the time comes.



The seal resides inside the brass bush and just flips out with a screwie, no vices peeps, this brass bush is soft.



Next off with the nose cone, need to check the hockey stick selector and small selector bushing for wear. The small round wheel looking thing is what usually wears and give sloppy selection. They are available in steel now as a replacement for the original plastic ones giving longer life. Mine was fine.

 

some good sealant before replacement, don't worry I wiped most of that back off again, only needs a smidge, don't want loads of that stuff floating about in the box.



Bit of a wound to the selector from a previous repair, gonna roll with it.





Below, box in the bus, clutch actuation kit can now be seen built up, sorry the pics are a bit out of order but lost a few intermediate pics such as the thrust bearing attached to the adaptor plate built up on the bench which clearly showed how it all went together.. oh well, I'm sure you get the gist.

 

Here follows a few pics of the bus being transferred from the body shop to the mechanical workshop were all us swamp donkeys and electricians reside. The bus is yet to have its final exterior lick of Sierra yellow up to the windows plus full final lacquer which it will return back to the body shop for after the Scooby lump is in and the wiring is done. The hi-top is yet to be refurbished also, that's one of the final things though me thinks. I really got excited when I saw it outside in the sunshine, like a big kid..









Next pic is my fave so far....
Achieved a little rake with the whopping 205/70-14 tyres on the rear (should help with the gearing a little until I get a 6rib with a freeway flyer) The rake will even out slightly when the lump and the roofs on it.











Well that's me dudes and dudettes.. be back soon, door furniture, wiring and Scooby lump next, so onwards and upwards.. or sideways if JK's have their way..

 

just found this thread, read it start to finish (so much for me going to bed early!!!)
truly inspirational build! it all looks fantastic
getting the students to do it was a stroke of genius... did you have to pay the college to do that? if not i may well be having a career change!
definitely watching with great interest, cant wait to see it finished!!!
keep up the spectacular work

 

Hi Konaboy, thanks for the kind words about the thread. Just hope it serves well for others as inspiration or simply reference. I have personally solved so many niggles in my mind by just reading through other people's resto threads. What did we do with no tinterweb.. 8^)
And yeah, working at the college and having access/permission to use the facility's is a massive bonus. In fact the whole decision to take the project on hinged on wether I could do it at work, asked ma boss, (he's a cool guy) he said yes, so I bought it and then started the ball rolling. Funny thing is a good friend of mine spotted it on a doorstep and said "you should buy it, looks like it only needs a couple of sills". Yeah right! 2 years later and 2.5 k's worth of panels. Hahaha. Will be worth it when it's done though.
Tek it easy mate.

 

First I am sorry to hear about your Mum, I bet she would be well chuffed that you have chosen her name for your bus. A lovely tribute

The bus is looking great. I have to be honest and say I do not understand all what your are doing but it sure looks good !

Looking forward to the next instalment....

 

Yeah nice 1 Lofty.. She would of loved it. She was Volks crew too, God bless her. Colin, ma step dads t25 in the back ground is nearing completion too, paint job, interior etc. they were just about to start some adventures when she got better, but it wasn't to be.. Such a shame. RIP June Hand 07-07-1950 07-07-2013.