Frustration level is gone…at least for now. ;-)

Well, nothing but good news.

After discussing my issues with several Samba members, they insisted my problem was a vacuum leak problem. I couldn’t understand it, as I had replaced the distributor vacuum hose, made sure the base of the carb was flat, sealed the carb to the manifold, replaced the silicone boots.

Starting thinking about what had NOT changed over the course of the problem and the only think I could think of was the brake booster hose. So, I proceeded to remove the distributor vacuum hose and the brake booster hose and plug them. Low and behold the bus cranked and idled. Unbelievable. So I went back and reinstalled the distributor hose and it still idled. Reinstalled the brake booster hose and the problem arose again.

The brake booster hose is the only one in the engine compartment I hadn’t changed out yet and it was looking rough around the firewall. Replacement hose was a little difficult to find but found a local supplier for Gates Rubber – Power Brake Vacuum HosePart # 27233. It was 15/32″ and 3 feet long. Luckily they had two in stock as it takes 3 feet from the hard brake booster line into the engine compartment and connect to the check valve and then an extra foot to go to the carb. I also removed the check valve, cleaned it up and reinstalled, BUT TAKE NOTE. In this case, the Bentley manual is INCORRECT.

I’m not sure if the brake booster check valve is original, it appears to be but no guarantees. According to the Bentley, the arrow should face the brake booster. However, in this case, the check valve is clearly marked with the word “MOTOR” with an arrow. The arrow must face the carb. This allows air to flow towards the carb but not towards the brake booster, in case the engine were to backfire through the carb,it will stop the air flow and ruin the brake booster.

So, we are now on the road again and I have driven her around a little and she seems to be doing much, much better. I’m still working on tweaking the carb and need to adjust the choke some. Hope to do that a little more this weekend.

Retapping the Cylinder Head

After discovering the stripped 10mm stud, I had to find another answer. I debated and debated and measured and remeasured on what to do. As much as I read, I kept hearing to stay away from a helicoil, as a helicoil is nothing but a spring in actuality, and the heat from the head and engine can cause it to expand and contract, which is NOT what you want from a head stud.

So, it’s off to find another solution. After more and more reading, I decided to try a Time-sert kit. I didn’t really have anything to lose (except for about $75.00), but I wanted to avoid having to remove the engine and have the cylinder head repaired.

Here is a link to their metric kits: www.timesert.com/html/mtrcsert.html .

According to the Time-sert website, the Fastenal Company is supposed to carry the kits. However, after visiting the store and calling, they knew nothing about Time-sert or their kits.

So, off to the Internet, I go.

I found a company called Mechanics Tools and Bits on Amazon that sold their kits. I ordered the TIME-SERT M10 X 1.25 Metric Thread Repair Kit 1012 and received the shipment in just a few days. Great Transaction. Then I discovered I ordered the wrong kit. I should have ordered the TIME-SERT M10 X 1.50 Metric Thread Repair Kit 1015. I contacted Neal Hillegass from the company, and he gladly exchanged the product, no questions asked. Of course, I had to cover the shipping, but there was a price difference, and his response “Just send it back, and we’ll take care of it.”

After a few more days, I had the correct kit. However, I ordered the 14.0mm inserts as that’s what it appeared I needed based on the stud. But after getting the kit, I realized the next size – 17.0mm -would be better suited for the job. Luckily, the inserts are relatively inexpensive, so I contacted Neal again and purchased five of the 17.0mm (a few extras for future usage if needed, hopefully not) for less than $10.00.

Got everything I needed now to start the job, and there was nothing to it. Had it installed in about an hour. First, you drill out the hole, retap it for the insert, use another included specialized drill bit for cutting a small circle around the hole to flush-mount the insert, and then use another tool to install the insert.

And that’s it. the stud is installed, torqued at 13 lbs/in and is not going anywhere. It feels more snug with no wiggle than the 10mm studs I had to retap on the other side. The intakes are installed, and everything seems snug and secure.

Really getting frustrated…

After ordering and installing the new intake gaskets and silicone boots, I still have a leak, and the carb is acting the same. It will start every time but will not idle.
While installing the intake, I was able to torque all of the intake nuts to 13 lbs on each of the new ones and the old ones, except for one. One of the old ones started feeling like it was pulling the stud out, and the aluminum gasket looked crumbled.

So I loosened up the driver’s side boots and removed the driver’s side intake to find that the one stud that wouldn’t tighten partially was coming out. I also discovered hardly any threads are holding it in, AND it was a stepped stud, meaning someone before me had done some work on it. Some mechanic did a lousy job on this engine.

I took the step stud out, cleaned the threads with a die and ran a tap in the hole to clean any leftover metal.

Then I cleaned all the parts with alcohol to remove any grease and applied some Loctite Red Threadlocker stick, reinserted the stud and tightened it down as much as possible without stripping. There was little thread in the top of the hole, but hopefully enough in the bottom to hold. I would drill it out and retap, but it has already been drilled out to accept the 10 mm stud. So I would have to go up another size. We’re going to let it sit overnight, and then we’ll try and reinstall the manifold to see if we can get a good seal.

Then, I’ll have to address the carb issue. I may try to pick up a spare Weber from someone for troubleshooting. I hate to spend too much on it, as I have the original duals but have yet to have the time to rebuild the second one.

Need some parts

I started looking today for aluminum intake manifold gaskets (021-129-707D-4) and silicone intake boots (113129729BSI).

I had ordered intake boots recently, but they were black, and from what I understand, the black boots are urethane and not silicone. Therefore, they are not as heat resistant as the silicone.

So, my search for the best price and shipping begins.

It’s been a busy summer…but not on the bus.

Finally have made some progress…at least I hope so.

The past couple of weekends I’ve had a friend over to help me with retapping the intake holes on the heads for the new studs. Finished installing them today, and also reinserted another stud where the previous owner was using a bolt.

So, we’ll give it 24 hours or so and then we’ll reinstall the intake …very carefully. And hope for the best.

“We Have the Meats”, aka “I Have the Studs”

After spending nearly a month online, visiting local bolt supply warehouses, etc., trying to locate the needed 8mm–10mm step studs, I finally found some–at my local friend’s garage. Why I didn’t check there first, I don’t know. Although, I do know more about them now than previously.

The problem with ordering them online is that it’s hard to justify spending $1.50 per stud and paying $10.00 in shipping charges. So, I finally have them. I also ordered a 10mm tap and drill set that hopefully will be here in the next few days.

Still working on a solution…

I haven’t had much time to work on the VW bus lately, but I am leaning toward the intake manifolds not being fastened snugly. When I removed the manifolds, it appeared the previous owner’s mechanic must have had some issues, as instead of a stud, someone had replaced it with a bolt, AND two of the studs were very loose.

After attempting to tighten ever so slightly, they came out. So, I’m locating some step studs from the standard 8mm to 10mm. I’ll drill and retap the heads to accept the 10mm size while leaving the 8mm for the intake.

It’s been ROUGH.

It has been a rough week regarding the rebuilt (or cleaned up) Weber. I have installed it, uninstalled it, and reinstalled it about 30 times in the past week and have had nothing but trouble. As I installed it the first time, I couldn’t get the bus to start correctly—very sporadic results. After troubleshooting, removing and reinstalling multiple times, I tried reinstalling the old float needle, readjusted the float, and just everything I could think of.
I finally thought of something in the middle of the night. The PO had installed a gasket sealant thicker than average gasket between the manifold and the carb.

Why? Because I took the carb off and found that the bottom of the carb was warped. So, I had some 180 DA sandpaper and attached it to a piece of straight sheet metal, set the base of the carburetor on it and started to slide it back and forth to attempt to remove some of the warpage. After about 10 minutes, I could see all of the low places on the carb were now gone. Then I reinstalled the carburetor, and the bus started consistently and still does. The warpage was causing a vacuum leak.

Now, the only problem is that it WILL NOT idle. I must continue giving it gas to keep it running. I have removed the idle screw, recleaned it, and blown compressed air with no change in idle. Also, I removed the jets and cleaned and blew them out—still nothing. I am out of ideas.

Rebuild of Weber 5200

After having some problems after I connected the charcoal canister to the carb, I decided to take the carb out and clean it. One thing led to another, and I decided to go ahead and take out the manifold and give it a good cleaning, new paint, and went ahead and rebuilt the carb. After shopping at several local auto parts stores, I decided to go with the Autozone kit for around $20.00. I also started to clean the engine up some from the years of muck and grime.

I really wanted to take the engine tins out and sand down and paint, but I decided to draw the line at leaving them in. I’m still debating to finish cleaning up the area and maybe spraying them black. It’s too much trouble to remove them without removing other things—a few pics of the carb before rebuilding. The strainer was corroded terribly. I’m removing it for now until I can find a replacement.

It’s a wonder that fuel was even getting through the carb.

It’s been busy, busy, busy

A lot has happened over the last week or so. I started reconnecting all of the gas vapor lines and charcoal canister but had a difficult time finding the correct metric-size hoses. I could have used ASE sizes, but I still couldn’t find any 1/2″ hose for the breather. So, I dropped a local VW friend (Snoopy) an e-mail to see if he could recommend any import parts places in the Charleston area. He told me to give Ken a call in Summerville. I called Ken, and not only did he have the metric sizes but also the larger 13mm that I needed for the breather hose.

I headed up to Summerville to pick the hose up and come to find out I knew Ken. Ken turned out to be Ken Irwin and owns Aircooled Automotive. Ken and I were charter members of the Lowcountry Volkswagen Club in Summerville in the late 80’s. I had no idea he was still in the area, so we spent a little time catching up, bought my hose and was on my way.

I came home to hook everything up, and I loved how the correct hose sizes were installing with ease. I also stopped by Lowe’s to pick up a brass fitting to run the 13mm hose from the charcoal canister to the breather. I also picked up a slide-on fastener for the canister strap. I get everything hooked up and crank her up…and she dies. Try it again, and the same thing. She’ll run for about 5 seconds on starting fluid, and that is all. I unplugged all of the vapor fuel lines and tried again… the same thing. It was almost like she was getting any fuel.

After a day of scouring for more progressive carb info, I found the jets screws’ locations and removed them and gave a few shots of carb cleaner and compressed air. She started up…not perfect, but at least she would start and run a little longer. There must have been trash in the charcoal canister, and when I fired her up, it blew it all into the carburetor.

I have now removed the carb, cleaned the exterior really well of the years of grease and grime. Now, I will remove the idle screws and jet and clean them again. I’m debating on picking up a rebuild kit and rebuilding it while I have it out. I plan on running it for only a short time as I’m working on the new PDSITs I have for installation.

I PBblasted the intake nuts tonight, as I will need to remove the intake and clean everything up on top of the engine, then reinstall with the clean carb.

Also, I picked up a pair of little wheels for the engine lid rod that helps keep it open. It took about five minutes to install, and now all is well…at least with the engine lid.