Winnie the Poo (update: volksworld)

Discussion in 'Show Us Your Ride' started by rob.e, Mar 5, 2014.

  1. should also have mentioned that last week was the first really long run with the 123ignition and new bosch blue coil fitted - previously i'd had problem with the spark disappearing on a long drives - either failing condenser or coil i guess. No issues now with my shiny new parts on - runs like a trooper all day long

    i'd previously had the infamous "hot start" problem on my bus too - bought the relay kit but not fitted it - i though i'd try just a really good clean up of the starter contacts first to see if that resolved the problem. well, i had several occasions to test this out over the past week and not had a reoccurence of the problem which is great.
     
  2. Yeah I stuck mine under there about 7 months ago, wedged between floor and chassis rail, then just a short bungee pulled over it. I've done plenty of miles, some off road, and they've never budged. You should be able to get 2 under the same side
     
    pkrboo likes this.
  3. Brief update, lots of camping over the last month.. Dorset, Devon, New Forest, lots of day trips out and a few bits to update on the bus.

    I've now fitted the Empi rear anti roll bar. Pretty straightforward job to put on – video on youtube helped too.

    [​IMG]
    Empi rear Anti Roll Bar
    by Rob E, on Flickr

    Makes a significant difference to how the bus feels in corners. It’s never going to be a sports car but the ARB certainly makes it feel much more planted and secure in the bends. My bespoke narrowed front ARB is already going to be a bit stiffer than stock due to it being shortened and together they seem to work well.

    I’ve also put some nicer brass/ bronze fixings on my westy style storage box:

    [​IMG]
    Storage box - bronze bolts
    by Rob E, on Flickr

    .. and made myself a cupholder / bottle holder for the dash out of some bits of leather strap I had left over.

    [​IMG]
    Cup holder idea
    by Rob E, on Flickr


    No pics, but I’ve also put a seat belt now on the rear facing buddy seat – this’ll get a westfalia cushion on it at some point so we can use the bus properly as a 6 seater.


    As a champagne edition, my bus would have originally had intermittent wipers (woohoo!) but mine never worked. Should have been: intermittent, off, normal, fast . What I actually had was: broken, off, slow, less slow. Well, that was until last week when I had: broken, off, broken, slow.

    I’m guessing more likely to be the relay than wiring (and easier to try first) so I just bought a 111 955 531 relay which is apparently the one I need. I’ll hopefully get it fitted this weekend.


    It was also quite fun to be the only vehicle that could carry a bunch of ikea wardrobe kits - just over 2 meters long these things so wouldn't go in the boot of a big estate and were too heavy for roofbars - no problem if you have access to a 40 year old commercial vehicle :)

    [​IMG]
    IKEA
    by Rob E, on Flickr

    Nice pic from Puttsborough:

    [​IMG]
    Puttsborough
    by Rob E, on Flickr
     
  4. I now have intermittent wipers!

    First attempt I had a wiper function that wasn't any less broken than it had been before, and I also seemed to have broken indicators - weird as they had been working fine recently... second attempt with the relay plugged in the right slot and everything worked as it should.

    :)

    Means all of the wiring for the intermittent function must still be in place (champagne edition has this from the factory) so all it needed was the right relay. Nice one, thanks eBay.

    [​IMG]
     
  5. Lug nuts – who knew it was so complex>!

    Ok, so when I swapped my oem 14 wheels for 16 caddy steels last year it was clear that although both use “radius” lug nuts, the stock bay nuts weren’t a great fit so managed to get what were described as “small radius” nuts.

    When I changed to my zender wheels I expected they’d have radius type nuts also so I assumed either the oem nuts or the small radius nuts would fit. Nope. If you fit, tighten then remove the nuts you can normally see from the abrasions on the surface where they are binding – the small nuts only seem to be making contact right at the base. No worries I though – I’ll use the bigger radius oem nuts. Trouble is, those didn’t seem to fit well either – inspection of the nut seemed to imply they were only making contact midway on the radius if that makes sense – ie they weren’t seating down fully into the rim.

    After some head scratching (and also trying out some tapered nuts – yep those are completely wrong!) I was a bit flummoxed.

    Ok, so more research; seems that there are THREE types of ball seat wheel nuts or bolts with differing radii, R12, R13 and R14. The OEM bay nuts I think are R14 (biggest), my “small” radius nuts are R12 so I thought I’d try to source some 13mm radius (R13) nuts.

    Wow how hard is that?! Hardly anyone seems to make these. I found a uk supplier that wanted 500 quid – yes, you read that right, FIVE HUNDRED QUID for 20 lug nuts. They were titanium so I guess there’s some cost in the raw materials but still, no thanks.

    Only sensible source I could find was a motorsports provider in the USA – just got one pack so far to test them out and yes they fit perfect, so ordered up the rest.

    Who would have thought something as basic as lug nuts was so complex.

    [​IMG]
    wheel-nut-audi-volkswagen-r13-ball-seat-m14-15-034-604-1002-1
    by Rob E, on Flickr
     
    Datsolow, Merlin Cat and paradox like this.
  6. In other news, i have my pacesetter exhaust being ceramic coated - should be ready next week. Looking forward to getting that on and the lug nuts sorted properly.
     
  7. Skyelectrix

    Skyelectrix Supporter

    I had a similar problem sourcing nuts for my ronal kleeblatts. It was a nightmare but did find a really good UK website offering loads and loads of different types of nuts and wheel bolts after searching for what seemed like ages. Think they came in around a fiver each. another of them there incidental expenses!!
     
    rob.e likes this.
  8. @Skyelectrix can you post the url for that site? I've already ordered my lug nuts from the usa but might be useful to keep for future reference, although at £5 each my usa source might work out cheaper :)

    https://store.034motorsport.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=R13
     
  9. Skyelectrix

    Skyelectrix Supporter

    Blooming typical isn't it! I spent many evening trawling the tinterweb finding them and now I can't remember the companies name! When I'm next in the office I'll have a look for the receipt.

    These any good?
    http://www.speedshack.co.uk/Wheelnuts.htm
     
  10. So, i got the exhaust on finally :)

    It's pretty hard to find something that fits the triangle flanges on the california spec heat exchangers, only options seem to be the empi single quiet pack that i already have (rusting away rapidly) or to get a custom system made up which is pretty costly.

    I found this pacesetter system from a supplier in the USA and luckily bought it and had it shipped pre-brexit so the exchange rate wasn't as bad as it is now - cost only 120 ish incl the shipping. Out of the box it looked ok but some areas with poor paint quality (some pics on P12) still better than the empi but not perfect, still not bad for the money. I figured since it hadn't cost too much to buy i could still spend a little more and get it properly coated - the ceramic coat should help with heat management and also give it some more corrosion protection.

    This is the basic black ceramic coat done by Zircotec in Abingdon, cost around 250ish:

    [​IMG]
    Pacesetter with ceramic coating (Zircotec)
    by Rob E, on Flickr

    I did a trial fit and for some reason the tailpipe looks really droopy and points down :-/ didnt' like that so first job was to chop that off :eek:

    [​IMG]
    Pacesetter
    by Rob E, on Flickr

    I messed around first with a nice stainless tailpipe i'd got from ebay - nice item but unfortunately it just poked too much out from under the bumper (and looked a bit naff too) so i left that off.

    [​IMG]
    tailpipe fail
    by Rob E, on Flickr

    So, instead i made a new tailpipe up from a piece of 90 degree bend plain pipe, nothing special but i'll do the job and it doesn't droop:

    [​IMG]
    Pacesetter with tailpipe
    by Rob E, on Flickr

    [​IMG]
    Pacesetter with tailpipe
    by Rob E, on Flickr



    Quick test run this evening and it sounds a bit quieter than the empi but goes great - probably only placebo but the bus felt great :)
     
    Last edited: Oct 24, 2016
    Merlin Cat, CollyP and Cov1987 like this.
  11. .. and i got my other R13 raduis lug nuts from the usa this week, nice to get those on too this week.
     
  12. ONE key for all the locks!

    I heard about these guys http://dubkeys.com/ some time back and got in touch with them to get a new set of the little "foil" things that make the locks specific to your key. Luckily i had the original key with the number etched on it, but it only fitted the ignition and front doors - i had two different keys for the tailgate and engine lid.

    Don't know why its taken my so long to get around to fitting these as its not that hard - once you've worked out how to remove the lock and get the barrel out, the swap over of the foils isn't hard to do. Good instructions also provided from dubkeys.

    Very satisfying once completed - a single key now for all the locks woohoo!
     
    Merlin Cat likes this.
  13. I thought i'd try out a stripe. This was a few quid only from ebay so worth a punt.. easy to put on, I ran a masking tape guide first then ran the stripe alongside it, borrowed Mrs rob.e's hairdryer to put some heat into get it to bond well (especially at the ends and at the joins). Took about 15 mins in total to get it on - pretty pleased with the results.

    If i change my mind it can come off very easily.

    :)

    [​IMG]
    Stripe
    by Rob E, on Flickr

    [​IMG]
    Stripe
    by Rob E, on Flickr

    Not test driven yet but i'm expecting at least 10hp gain.
     
  14. Those doors are flushing so perfectly! :eek:

    You should have gone for red stripes though.... 15hp gain guaranteed!
     
    Jeffers, rob.e and S1mon like this.
  15. Not much going on at the moment... a couple of things in the pipeline

    Picked up some mk2 GTI seats for buttons, they are super comfy and would look sweet re-trimmed in westy cloth - need to work out a way of fixing them without drilling any new holes and re-using the exiting runners. should be possible.. just needs some thought. I find the oem seats really uncomfortable on long runs, even though they're re-padded etc. The way i'm going to do this would mean it would be an easy swap back if i change my mind.

    I got a 2015 beetle 17 wheel (heritage) to try out, not sure about these, maybe too big (17") plus tyre selection would be limited with a suitable load rating.

    I was luckily to come across an old german ADAC grille badge in my local antiques place (more of a junk shop tbh) and picked it up for not much money thinking it would look great on the grill of the vw. Cleaned up nice with some coca-cola. It's a commemorative plaque that celebrated 50 years of ADAC - the wording means "Jubliee Rally Munich"

    [​IMG]
    Jubiläums Zielfahrt München ADAC 50 Jahre. As found.
    by Rob E, on Flickr

    [​IMG]
    Jubiläums Zielfahrt München ADAC 50 Jahre. After cleaning.
    by Rob E, on Flickr

    Unfortunately SWMBO doesn't like the eagle and thinks it has "third reich" connotations so it's not going to be fitted :( its on ebay now if anyone else wants it.
     
    Merlin Cat likes this.
  16. Replaced my indicator lenses this week. I had some poor quality aftermarket item on previously which had faded badly and looked naff. Been watching thesamba to see what's around - got a matching pair of OG Hella lenses for a pretty reasonable sum :)

    Two mins to swap over and I'm very happy with the result. Spot the difference:

    [​IMG]
     
  17. ..just need to find so nice rears next. (insert Kylie Minogue gag etc)
     
    Merlin Cat, CollyP and Dicky like this.
  18. Baysearcher

    Baysearcher [secret moderator]

    That is proper ocd!
     
    rob.e likes this.
  19. Heat Exchanger Refurb:

    My heat exchangers are a bit "frilly" around the edges - not fully rusted but you know, could do with some tlc. OG heat exchangers aren't coming up for sale very often, aftermarket aren't as good.. california spec triangular flanged ones are even rarer. I spotted a matching set, left and right OG "NOS" cali spec units on thesamba but the guy wants 700 euros - ouch, no thanks. I'm sure mine are fixable but i don't want to take the bus off the road..

    Well, how cool is this - a guy only 10 mins from where i work has pulled his full heat exchangers and exhaust off his 76 cali bus and is selling - his partner doesn't like the rusty tailpipes - its california spec with the triangle flanges. Exhaust is a 4 outlet empi with lots of surface rust (they all go like that in the uk climate) but the exchangers, although very grubby look like they are in good condition - better than mine certainly.

    Here's a pic as i collected it:

    [​IMG]
    exhaust
    by Rob E, on Flickr

    Over the weekend i've wirebrushed the EMPI and given it a coat of VHT paint - it's not perfect but it's still very usable. I've only just replaced my exhaust so i don't need this so it's in the classifieds.

    I also started on cleaning up the heat exchangers. I'm amazed, these are REALLY good - a few very minor dings and a tiny bit of surface rust but some work with the wire brush and they're going to come out great.

    Work in progress pic - just started cleaning up the first one:

    [​IMG]
    Heat exchangers refurb
    by Rob E, on Flickr

    I put a couple of coats of silver VHT on the pipework and two coats of silver hammerite on the heat exhanger, just done one so far but it looks spot on, very pleased with the way its turned out:

    [​IMG]
    before_after
    by Rob E, on Flickr
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2017
    CollyP, Cov1987, Merlin Cat and 3 others like this.
  20. Merlin Cat

    Merlin Cat Moderator

    Looking good. Cool stripes :)
     
    rob.e likes this.

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