Author: Larry

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Moving along

Had a productive weekend. Received my order from JBugs on Friday, just in time for the weekend.

  • Was disappointed (but not surprised) that the rear marker lights did not fasten to the bus as they should or intended. So ended up using plastic 1/4″ anchors to fasten the base to the bus and then used screws to fasten the marker light to the base.
  • Purchased a new Duracell Group 36R battery. I must say the Walmart Everstart battery I purchased more than 10 years ago, did a great job for it’s lifetime but finally wouldn’t hold a charge.
  • Finished reconnecting all of the rear engine and electrical wiring, with the exception of the blower motor. Don’t really need it right now to get her running, plus need to rewire some of it due to age and corrosion.
  • Reconnected the starter wiring, installed new fuel line from the carb to the fuel filter but need to connect it this evening.
  • Replaced the aluminum intake to head gaskets with fiber gaskets and tightened and torqued the intake and carb.
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DIY Engine Bay Insulation Panels

Before I dropped the set screw and started this entire update process, I had picked up a set of complete insulation boards. They weren’t perfect, but I could use them as a pattern.

I used 1/8″ masonite (or hardboard) and traced out the pattern, cut everything out and then used a drill press and Forstner bit to begin drilling the holes.

I sprayed them with semigloss black paint and never got to install them. I also scored a complete set of the original insulation in great shape. The plastic protectors were dry-rotted, so I purchased clear trash bags and used the manufactured seams as much as possible. Then, I trimmed them to fit, used a lighter to melt the edges and pressed them together to form a sealed package. I even saved the original VW papers and inserted them into the insulation plastic(as seen in one of the pics.)

They turned out great. I should have taken some pics of the insulation before installing it, but I was too excited to get them installed.

The insulation boards have lasted more than five years in the garage with the Charleston humidity and still look the same as when I made them.

Newly-made DIY Engine Bay Insulation Panels.
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Painting Engine Tin

With a little additional elbow grease, I was finally able to remove the engine tin. It was a battle, but I won out this time. I removed the cylinder tins, the engine surrounds, and the front tin, a few pieces underneath. I did have to unplug the wires from the alternator to the voltage regulator, however, I marked EVERYTHING to make sure I reinstalled correctly. More time spent now will save time on the back end… and frustration. Here is a pic of the tins removed and unstripped:

Since removing, I’ve now spent hours stripping with paint stripper, wire wheels and sandpaper. Yes, I could have had it sandblasted, however, this is a great stress reliever. I love working in the garage, whatever the task.

1973 Volkswagen Bus 1700 Engine Tin
1973 Volkswagen Bus 1700 Engine Tin
1973 Volkswagen Bus 1700 Engine Tin
1973 Volkswagen Bus 1700 Engine Tin

I chose to only spray paint the engine tin for now and not have it powder coated. I’m planning on building a second engine and will get the engine tin powder coated when that happens. Didn’t want to powder coat now and then end up scratching it.

I ended up using Dupli-Color Black Hot Rod Sandable Primer DAP1698 and then several final coats of DupliColor Ford Semi-Gloss Black DE1635. I wanted to use semi-gloss so as not to show grease smudges, etc. The main goal is not show qulity at this time, but just to try and get everything looking better.

Dupli-Color Engine Enamel Ford Semi-Gloss Black
Dupli-Color Engine Enamel Ford Semi-Gloss Black
Dupli-Color® DAP1698 - Sandable Primer Surfacer Black Hot Rod
Dupli-Color® DAP1698 – Sandable Primer Surfacer Black Hot Rod
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A bad day in the garage, is better than a good day at work!

What started to be a one-hour job turned into six.

I recently picked up a digital dwell meter and was anxious to tweak my timing rather than only using a timing light.

I decided to remove my points, check for pitting, and clean everything up. It was clean, but it never hurts to do some cleaning. I reinstalled the points and DROPPED the set screw underneath the engine tin. ARGH!!!

I tried my magnet in the hole and could never find it, which began my quest to remove the driver’s side engine tin. I thought while removing the tin, I’ll go ahead and strip it and repaint it from the unusual candy apple red color obviously painted by a previous owner. Ultimately, I’ll have it stripped and powder-coated, but for the time being, a nice coat of semi-gloss black will be just fine.

To remove the engine tin, it was necessary for me to remove the carb and intake runners and also remove the distributor after making sure the engine was at TDC.

In an earlier post, I had written about having to repair one of the intake studs on the cylinder head. When I installed the intake, I could not tell if there was a left side and a right side, so I installed which way I thought was correct. After installation, I noticed that the runners would not insert into the air distributor. So, I got them as close as possible and then used my silicone boots, and there wasn’t any leakage.

I took this opportunity to reverse the intake sides to see if the fit was better. The fit is better. However, I noticed that the carb was now not sitting level. I thought at first it was just my eyes playing tricks. More on that later.

Back to the tins … I removed all the tin screws on the left side and still could not remove the #3 and #4 cylinder tin. I could remove the two pieces from underneath and then the left outside piece. No matter how much I struggled, it just would not come out, and in fear of bending something, I just gave up for now. I read several posts about that once the screws are out, it should come out with some extra work. I went forward with stripping, priming and painting the engine tins I could remove. Not perfect, but it’s so much better than before. Pics to come. 😉

The good news is I was able to separate the engine tin far enough away to see the points set screw and was able to retrieve it. I then proceeded to install the points again and reinstall the cylinder tin, carb and intake. I first tried setting my points gap to .016 inches, which gave me a 39-degree dwell. For used points, the dwell should be between 42° and 58°; for new, 42° and 50°. I went to .014 and was able to get the dwell to 52°. I then set the timing and have it set at 28° at 3000 RPM with the vacuum hose plugged.

The acceptable range for the point gap should be .016 to .020 inches.

After setting the dwell and the timing, it’s time to set the carburetor. With a progressive Weber, I used the initial settings provided by Redline. For some reason, the idle at times will vary from 500 rpm to 1100 rpm. I greased the distributor shaft and thought that would have helped that situation, as I’ve run into that before. After several attempts and removing the mixture screw and spraying carb cleaner, I finally thought I had got it.

I took it out on the road, and it was actually running very well … except when I turned a tight corner to head home, it stalled out. I cranked it and ran fine until I made another hard turn into the driveway, and she died again.

My memory is not as good as it once was. Still, I surprisingly remembered a post I had read on TheSamba website about someone’s carb not sitting level after reversing the intake runners incorrectly. Hmmm … ring a bell?

So, this weekend, I want to remove it all again, try and remove my #3 and #4 cylinder tin, reverse my intake runners and see if I can pry the runners into the air distributor with some clamps. Then, set everything back up again.

The good thing about all this struggle … practice makes perfect, and I’ve never removed my distributor before and reinstalled it.

What started as a one-hour job turned into six hours and a hot, humid, sweat-filled day. HOWEVER, a bad day in the garage is better than a good day at work!

I’ll keep you posted.

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Going to take the plunge again … rusty step repair.

I took a little time tonight to look at repairing my passengers side step.

Several years ago, I purchased a pair of Klokkerholm step repair panels, however, I was a little surprised at the quality – metal thickness and the corners weren’t stamped but folded on top of each other. Luckily, it doesn’t look like I will need to repair the entire panel but can cut off the part I need and weld it in.

Check my pic below of the repair needed and then the Klokkerholm panel. The portion I will cut out is marked with a black Sharpie.

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Most recent work: Interior Door Cleaning

Really haven’t had much time to work on the bus lately, just been driving here when the weather is nice. I still haven’t applied the epoxy primer I purchased two years ago and it’s probably wasted. I have kept it inside to keep it from the heat. So we’ll see if it made it or not.

I have started sanding down the passenger’s side some to get it down to the factory paint.

I did spend some quality time with her this weekend and made some decent progress on cleaning up the passenger’s interior side door. The door panels are shot so decided to remove it and clean the dirt and grime up. I removed and saved the protective plastic so I could use it as a template when the time comes. In trying to clean, I started using 409, then Purple Stuff, but found WD-40 and a brush to do the best. Then I hit it with some rubbing compound in some areas to finish cleaning.  I should have taken a before picture of the door as a whole, but you can tell the dirt and grime from the smaller shots.

Next step will be to clean up the interior of the door and lubricate everything.

1973 Volkswagen Bus Passenger Door Interior - Clean
1973 Volkswagen Bus Passenger Door Interior – Clean
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It’s been awhile…timing and tuning

I’ve been busy with life and haven’t had much time to work on my 1973 Volkswagen Westfalia bus lately. I did have my coil go out on me, so I ended up having to install a new one. During troubleshooting, I went ahead and replaced the points and condenser also. I replaced them when I purchased the bus 7 years ago and really didn’t have very many miles on them, but I replaced them anyway.

The good news was the points weren’t pitted.

Also, I recently was given a timing light, so I decided now would be a great time to give it a shot. I’ve only set the timing statically and tweaked by ear previously, so I was anxious to nail the timing, hoping to eliminate the slight hesitation I’ve had when shifting gears and starting from a standstill.

I was also given a tach/dwell meter, but it didn’t work well, so I picked up a tiny tach to hook up in the engine compartment.

After doing some research and taking the advice of fellow bus owners, the best way to time it would be with the vacuum hose disconnected, running at 2800-3000 RPMs and set around 28 degrees BTDC.

I tried it and was really having some issues with it running. I would set it with the engine warmed up and then, when cold, try to start it, and the timing was off so bad I couldn’t get it to start. So I set it statically to get it started again and then try it again. Then I decided I needed to tweak the carb a little to try and get them both working together.

After further research and more advice, I decided to set it the same way BUT to run it at 3500 RPMs instead. That was the trick. The timing was set at 28 degrees BTDC and ran much more like it should.

I’m running a Weber Progressive Carb and set the idle mixture screw 2 full turns out from the bottom and then set the idle speed screw 1 1/2 turns after the screw touches the stop lever. These were great instructions from the Weber website, and this is what I followed:

I then tweaked the carb just a little per the instructions, and she seemed to be running better than ever. Took her out for a spin, and the hesitation was gone, and she ran smoothly the entire time. Let her cool back down and then went back out to see how she would start when cold and fired right up.

That’s it for now. Until next time…

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Time to start working on the body

I took a day off from work yesterday for one of my boys field trip, and other errands, and had a few minutes to spare so I ran over to Palmetto Paint Specialties Inc. in North Charleston and Morris set me up with some epoxy primer. It’s been a LOONGGG time since I’ve done any auto painting, so things have changed quite a bit.

Told him I needed a primer that I could work on the bus a section at a time, do any glazing I needed to, and then could leave it until I get ready to spray it with paint. It stays in the garage and is not really exposed to the elements but still wanted a good quality. Told him it’s not a show vehicle, but still want to do it right. He hooked me up with PPG’s EPX-900 Epoxy Primer in beige and EPX-901 hardener. Still not totally convinced I’m going with the original Pastel White for the final paint, as we may go for a two tone job with vw orange below the beltline and then white above. But if we go with all Pastel White, the beige primer should be fine. I’ve seen several vehicles with the beige primer and it really looks nice. A good color to worth with doing the body work.

Really looking forward to sanding down the paint chips, getting rid of the surface rust and getting it one color.

Also, started looking into what to do to solve my sliding door track problem. It’s not THAT bad really, but would be nice to have it where it works nice and smooth. The problem is the bottom of the track has a three inch rust through on it, thus the door roller hits the dent and sinks.

All of the surrounding metal including the outer sill, inner rocker and everything looks good. Really hate that I will have to remove the good outer rocker sill to get the track replaced, but that’s the breaks.

I did find out today that a friend of mine has purchased the late model bus outer sill from Gerson at Klassic Fab. So I was glad to hear that, as it has been very challenging to find VW Bus repair panels that are of good quality. Most I have found to be much thinner than the original and do not always fit correctly. Also, e-mailed Gerson to find out if I can purchase only the track from him instead of the entire inner rocker with the track. Hopefully, we’ll hear something soon.

You can check out my sliding door pictures:

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“I think I found the problem…”

I finally had time to crawl under the bus and check things about the bus not starting. I started cleaning the grease up in the area some, and suddenly, sparks were flying.

After getting the area cleaned up more carefully, I found that two of the wires had been rubbing together and were shorting out. So, wrapped a little electrical tape around it until I can address it further and see if that corrects the problem. I’ve driven around for a few weeks, and it has started every time. Hopefully, that solves the problem.

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Latest issue – No Start

I knew it was going to happen sooner or later.

I haven’t done much lately; I’ve just been driving her here and there. But over the past year, I’ve noticed a few times that when I turned the key, she wouldn’t start. I had power everywhere – radio and lights work—just no start. Turn the key off, and the starter will kick in.

But not this time. I had just backed the bus out of the garage until the rest of the family came out to jump in, and she would turn over. I tried it again – no luck; I tried for another 10 minutes and nothing. I have yet to have time with Hurricane Irene bearing down on the SouthEast coast, cutting grass and everyday family responsibilities to check on the situation. But my first thought was that the ignition switch was going out.

I had replaced it a few months after I purchased the bus and pulled the steering column, painted everything, fixed the horn, etc. It was a real pain changing out the switch, and I had heard rumors that other bus owners had to replace the new cheap-made switches.

I didn’t want to have to go through that again.

Fast forward to yesterday, and my son and I were headed to the beach for beach combing after the hurricane (in my other vehicle). And it dawned on me–he had asked me about a specific sound whenever I had tried to start it that day. I told him that it was the fuel pump.

HEY, wait a minute; if we heard the fuel pump (which we did), it is not the ignition switch, so it must be the starter solenoid or the starter.

So, a sigh of relief comes over me. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.