68 Western Panel Van - Operation On The Road!

[slammedresto]

congratulations on both fronts Mike 8)

 

[mike.s]

cheers!

Think I really need to change the title of this thread to - 68 Western Panel Van - On The Road!

 

[Analog]

congratulations on all your news. mine passed this week too. go go 68's

 

[froggy]

Double congrats mate. :mrgreen:

 

[mike.s]

My van has an identify and is not just number anymore! -

KFX 289F :mrgreen:

Very impressed witht the DVLA actually - i went down and registered it on thursday afternoon and received the tax disc and reg number this morning (saturday) in the post - hows that for quick service!

 

[mattp]

Well done Mike, rims look right at home on the bus too

 

[mike.s]

well - thought i`d put a bit of an update on here - van is all mot`d and registered but i`m still not quite rolling yet!

i`ve got engine problems somewhere and cannot work out for the life of me where the problem is!

the van never drove very to the mot but idled well - i discovered the vacuum on the dizzy was gone so i replaced the dizzy and it all seems to advance ok when i rev it up form idle.

if i go on a drive though, everything changes - as soon as i come to change gear (especially going up hill), the van loses all power and nearly stalls forcing me to change back down again.

i brought it home and it was idling while i was messing round with it and then it cut out - had run out of petrol. Thought i`d cracked it then and the engine was suffering from fuel starvation. I can`t understand this though as i`d put 2 gallon in it a while back and have only had it idling on the drive and driven to the mot station twice (half a mile away). anyway, i filled it up this time with 4 gallons and got it started again once the fuel had travelled down the line. But - i `ve still got the same issue! :evil:

I `ve been though everything -

check list so far -
all the ignition components are new -
coil,
leads,
plugs,
replacement dizzy -vac advances correctly
points
condensor

timing is set to 7.5 statically which is what it also idles at

compression checked to about 110-115 psi on all cylinders (bit low but not awful)

when the engine is cranked over, the fuel pump seems to supply a reasonable amount of fuel.

idles perfectly

no air leaks

what is it? i keep thinking back to the fuel running out when i`d got 2 gallons in ther - surely i hadn`t used that much? but i can`t see any obvious leaks, no petrol smell and oil level stayed the same.

if the tank outlet wa blocked, surely when refilled it, it wouldn`t have flowed and started again? the tank originally was full of varnish, but i`m pretty sure i removed all this using acetone - it looked very clean anyway!

i`ve bought a new fuel pump to fit and i tuned cathys beetles engine up last week which is running really well, so i may swap the carb and ignition components over her engine to see how that effects it next. After that, i might drain the tank, remove the outlet on the bottom and see what i find.

Bit of a loss really! I was hoping to travell up to the volksworld show end of the month but thats looking ever increasingly unlikely!!

If anyone has any suggestions, they`re very welcome no metter how unlikely!

 

[Graham L]

Mike

Have you cleaned the carb out?, has some dirt been dragged through and is blocking the jet on certain loads, other thing that springs to mind is an air lead in your intake system, either at the carb to manifold or manifold to head?

 

[cyberdyne systems]

Have you got the correct air cleaner and is it drawing warm air from the engine, as it could be the manifold is icing and particularly notices when under load?

 

[mike.s]

yep - carb is a possibility - i had some dirt stuck in it earlier when i first tried to start it the first time despite already rebuildign it with new gaskets , cleaner and compressed air- i`m going to swap the good one of the beetle tomorrow mornign and see what happens. No air leaks that i can see - i`ve sprayed wd40 all round the manifolds and no change in engine speed at all.

i`m using a totally stock air filter so no carb icing either - i`ve got the whole weekend to tinker with it and see if i can fix - i really hope it turns out to be something simple.

 

[AxlFoley]

A bit simplistic, but what does your fuel filter look like? had this probelm on my bug, turned out the furl filter was full of rust lol

 

[mike.s]

when it (appeared) to run out of fuel, i changed the fuel filter and to be honest it didn`t look too bad actually although i expected some dirt in it. So thats been changed too !

 

[Austin]

congrats on the mot / registration and the engagement bud. Really good thread, just read it all. Sweet looking van mate. Dont worry about the visabilty in a van, although i've been driving vans of all sizes for years, you do get used to it really quickly, you just have to rely on your mirrors more.

That was really good that the dvla got it registered so quickly, hope thsi is the case when i comes to register mine!!

keep the updates coming.

 

[mike.s]

right - had a look at it today - took the carb of and lo and behold inside there was enough silt to make a sandcastle - not good.

So, i `ve cleaned and blown it out - although i think half of the silt, bits was from the carb itself as i think its a bit past it - lots of engrained crap in it.

I tuned it up best i could and took it for a drive - i can now change gear and pull away - hurrah! Its still not so good though i have to admit.

Anyway, i drove into weymouth town centre then back again - engine didn`t sound brilliant on way back to be honest. Took the carb off and it was n`t as clean as before - checked the brand new filter and there was quite a bit of grit and silt in it just from driving a few miles :roll:

so engien out tomorrow and flush the tank again. i going to order soem petseal resin off the internet to seal it properly but i won`t be able to add it to the tank until at least wed night and then it takes a fair few days to set properly.

Also, even though everything is new, still suffering from terrible steering wander. I think i`m going to remove the new recon box and send it back to megabug. You screw the adjustment in till the screw stops, then unscrew so that everything is free but there is still a stiff spot in the steering so i have to unscrew it quite a bit more to allow it to move freely - not happy about this so going to speak to mega bug about it.

so probably not going to get to volksworld - bummer and to top it off, my gearbox whines like a good-un when you get any speed up! no crunching or popping out and the change is quite tight actually but its bloody noisy!!

by the way, if anyone has a spare solex 34 pict 3 carb for sale in good working condition, let me know as i think mines pretty iffy which isn`t helping things! saw a pair of dellorto frd 34s with the linkage on volkszone for £250 which i`d love, but i just cant afford them at the mo!

tomorrow after i`ve taken the engine and tank out, i`m going to have a go at tidying up the paint and graffiti - should cheer me up a bit as i`ve been wnating to have a go that for ages!

 

[mike.s]

took the engine and tank out this morning and the tank had gritty bits and pieces collected in the bottom - i pulled the filter out and it looked this -

not very nice - thats not going back in thats for sure! anyway, i flushed the tank again with acetone and nuts and bolts and then poured some of frosts `metalready` in there. aftewards i washed it out with water and then dried it out. to behonest, it looks pretty clean in there now but i`m not taking any chances this time and i`m going to get soem of the petrol tank resin from frost - i `ve used this before and seemed to work well, so i`ll hopefully get this tues/wed , get it done and then hopefully it should all be set and ready for petrol by sunday.

i alo soaked the car in acetone aswell but it doenst` look too much better - think i`ll be on the look out for a good 2nd hand one really.

wat a tip! -

i had a go at removing the grafitti on the side in the afternoon and i seemed to get good results with carefully using an orbital sander with a light grade paper (well until the sander broke anyway!)

you can the big blue arrow starting showing its face here -

i think i`ll be tempted to remove the arrow actually and take it back to the orange paint below which matches the rest of the van. i`ll leave the sign writing above in place though - a panel van just doesn`t look quite right with out signwriting in my eyes!

when i`d finished took cathys bug out for a spin - took a couple at the beach

it was quite funny actually, because 5 mins after this, i stopped at the shops and couldn`t start it again as the starter motor stuck - had to get a bump start from a friendly passerby - soooooo glad that didn`t happen on the beach!!!

 

[mike.s]

it took ages for frost to deliver the fuel tank sealant but it finally arrived on thursday. its like an epoxy that you pour in, so that was done on thursday night but it takes a good 5 days to set properly so wasn`t really able to do much this weekend.

yesterday, i did manage to paint the wheels to smarten them up a bit and they came up quite well- i even tried out using some tyre paint stuff to detial the lettering which i thought came up quite well actually!

i wasn`t going to do anything as i thought i`d go kiting but when i got to the beach there wasn`t enough wind really so i came back and put the fuel tank and engine back in and also did a quick paint job on the engine lid area. you can also see where the orange paint is t-cutting up pretty well 8)

 

[AxlFoley]

looking awesome, what are your plans for the rear arches?

 

[mike.s]

cheers - i`m going to weld in some new lips/arches - i actually bought a pair for a good price of ebay on thursday, went to pick them up an hours drive away on friday morning and the guy didnt even bother turning up - was pretty annoyed as i `d wasted the petrol getting there.

so i`ll just get some when i see some for cheap close by - might be a while!

looking awesome, what are your plans for the rear arches?

 

[AxlFoley]

cool

in the mean time enjoy being able to chane a wheel easily, I spent 20 mins trying to get a tyre on today! I had to resort to tyre shine on the tread in the end lol

love the van though

 

[mike.s]

cheers

yesteday, i got to fitting the engine all back in and connected up now i`ve got the fuel tank sealed. I also got hold a recon carb which i also fitted too.

put some fuel in it, turned the engine over and when the fuel got there, it fired and idled perfectly! very pleased!
I also, did a few bits and pieces while i had it in the air - fitted some missing tinware, a couple of missing bolts, etc. Fitted a new speedo, put some additives in the gear oil to try and make it less whiney.

i badly needed to have a look at the tracking too which i think is the cause of my steering woes. i checked it and i somehow had 5mm toe out which probably isn`t that great since its meant to be about 1mm toe in! I managed to loosen up the adjustable track rod and changed it to this.

Took it out for a drive later today when i had time - didn`t go far and not really over 25/30mph, but it did seem a bit less wanderery - i won`t know until i drive it a bit quicker though to be honest! The engine seemed alot better though! It pulled pretty well with not too much hesitation 8)

I had a look at the paint aswell in the afternoon - i`ve decided, i`m going to remove the graffiti which to be honest is a bit of an eyesore! Underneath, the graffiti, the blue arrow is coming on aswell. I`ll be keeping the western vw lettering though as i like it and it make the van really 8)

The graffiti consists f quite a few layers! Red spray paint, then yellow spray paint, then there`s thickly painted red paint, then the blue arrow and then the orange paint matching the front clip and doors.

Armed with a fair amount of wire wool, 1200 and 2000 grit wet and dry and G3 cutting compound i went to work!

Once id got through to the orange paint it really does polish up well - i can get a really good shne on it and it looks pretty good, anyway, here `s a couple fo pics - you can see where i `ve removed a section through the blue arrow and the thick red brush painted bit round the letter R -

it does look a lot better in real life! You can see your reflection in the orange paint!